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Feb 25, 2021
The coronavirus crisis has shaken up business as usual, with some IT strategies and tools rising to the occasion and others in line for a rethink or tough recovery post-pandemic.(Insider Story)
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Feb 10, 2021
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 Microsoft Teams, SharePoint, OneNote, Planner, 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 the company's latest non-subscription office suite is Office 2019. We've got cheat sheets for all 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.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Feb 04, 2021
Microsoft today unveiled its employee-experience platform, Viva, which the company calls a digital "gateway" for employees to access relevant news, learning, analytics, and knowledge within their organization.
Four Viva "modules" — Connections, Insights, Learning and Topics — will become available in Teams on a staggered basis over the next few months, Microsoft said, leveraging existing capabilities within the Microsoft 365 portfolio, including SharePoint and analytics tools.
The platform is also designed to provide managers and leaders better insights into the well-being and performance of workers, the company said.
[ Related: When work-from-home means the boss is watching ]
"Today we are bringing together collaboration, learning and well-being, in order to create a complete new product category: [the] employee experience platform or EXP," Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said in a pre-recorded briefing ahead of the announcement.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Feb 02, 2021
The surprise announcement that Jeff Bezos will leave later this year and hand over the reins to AWS leader Andy Jassy marks a remarkable rise for Jassy. He began as a marketing manager in 1997 and started AWS in 2003.
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Feb 02, 2021
In yet another signal of the extent to which the needs of enterprise users have changed, French company Scaleway has launched a service providing access to M1 Mac mini systems in the cloud.
Apple Silicon Mac-as-a-service
s Scaleway has an extensive history offering up ARM Bare Metal as-a-service. Now, it is offering access to an M1 Mac mini in the cloud for as little as 12 cents per hour, though the minimum lease is 24 hours. It's the dawn of Apple Silicon-as-a-service, and narrowly beats AWS to the punch; Amazon has previously announced plans to introduce M1-as-a-service.
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Feb 02, 2021
If there's one app you rely on more than any other on your phone, it's probably the app that controls your on-screen keyboard.
It's a funny sort of realization, I realize — 'cause a keyboard isn't typically something you even think about opening in any traditional sense. I mean, heck, keyboard apps don't even usually have icons in the Android app drawer! They're practically invisible, at least in terms of the way we tend to think about apps.
But every time you tap out text into your device, you'd better believe it's the keyboard app you're using. And you'd better believe there's more to your phone's keyboard than what you see on the surface.
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Feb 01, 2021
Some people can't wait for a new version of Windows 10. They sign up for insider editions and eagerly watch for the next release.
I'm exactly the opposite of that.
I wait and make sure the version of Windows 10 that I'm using is fully compatible with my applications and I have time to deal with any side effects. My philosophy with security updates is the same; I don't install them right away. (Though I do install them every month without fail.) If you haven't yet installed the January updates, do so as soon as possible.
The major update that I warned about last month was KB4535680, which was offered up to Windows Server 2012 x64-bit; Windows Server 2012 R2 x64-bit; Windows 8.1 x64-bit; Windows Server 2016 x64-bit; Windows Server 2019 x64-bit; Windows 10, version 1607 x64-bit; Windows 10; version 1803 x64-bit; Windows 10, version 1809 x64-bit; and Windows 10, version 1909 x64-bit systems.
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Feb 01, 2021
Confused about how updates work in Windows 10? Join the club. Over the years, Microsoft has transformed what was once a straightforward procedure into an ever-changing, often complicated process that varies according to whether you have Windows 10 Home, Windows 10 Pro, or an enterprise or education edition — and that varies according to the specific version number of the operating system. As a result, there have been lots of misperceptions about how Windows Update works in Windows 10, and how to best use it.
With this article, we hope to make things clearer for you. We've delved deep into Windows Update and come up with answers to users' most pressing questions: whether you have to accept all updates, whether you can uninstall existing updates, and how to reduce the bandwidth some updates use. We've also included some extras, like how to stop all updates if you want.
To read this article in full, please click here
(Insider Story)
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Jan 29, 2021
The 2020 calendar year will long be remembered as an annus horribilis for most, except for a handful of technology companies who reaped the rewards of a global shift to remote work with successful initial public offerings (IPOs).
US companies alone raised a record $435 billion in stock sales in 2020, with more than a quarter of that figure coming from IPOs — far outstripping 2014's mark of $279 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The vast majority of those new listings defined themselves as technology companies.
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Jan 29, 2021
Amid the coronavirus, 2020 was unpredictable in more ways than anyone would have expected. But one thing that stayed fairly constant was the steady flow of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) across the tech sector.
Global tech M&A deals last year totalled $634 billion, a 91.8% year-over-year increase, according to GlobalData. Among a late flurry of big deals was the $35 billion acquisition of Xilinx by Advanced Micro Devices and Salesforce's $27.7 billion acquisition of Slack.
[ Further reading: Biggest technology acquisitions of 2020 ]
As for whether 2021 will maintain last year's pace, if January is anything to go by, there will be no slowing of big deals across the industry, with silicon innovations and collaboration software already proving to be hot areas.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Jan 29, 2021
Forget about all those contradictory reports about whether smartphones could give you brain cancer. Apple itself this week issued a warning that the iPhone 12 could attack your heart.
The Jan. 23 Apple advisory said iPhone magnets can affect "medical devices such as implanted pacemakers and defibrillators." Fear not, though. There are only about 1.3 million Americans with pacemakers, a figure growing rapidly each year. Defibrillators are also common, but I couldn't find any reliable stats for them.
The warning pointed out that the latest iPhones contain magnets, radios and "components" (when Apple makes a point of using vague terms like components, I get nervous) that emit electromagnetic fields. The company's new MagSafe charging accessories also contain magnets and some contain radios.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Jan 29, 2021
Disclosure: NVIDIA is a client of the author.
I've been thinking about an NVIDIA offering called Omniverse. It's designed to work with the company's graphics cards and use game elements to create content rapidly, but it can also create visual simulations.
NVIDIA has been a major simulation advocate for autonomous cars, and its tools could be used to simulate other things. (NVIDIA's new headquarters existed virtually years before it was built.) I bring this up because, as we see Reddit folks mess with the hedge funds, it strikes me we don't use simulations enough to validate decisions before they're made. That's especially true of companies.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Jan 29, 2021
Apple has updated its iCloud for Windows application, hinting the future introduction of support for an extension to enable use of iCloud passwords via the Chrome browser on Windows.
Everyone is multi-platform nowadays
The updated app - invaluable for any Windows 10 user - also brings improvements in the Folder Sharing user interface, making it much easier to access and share folders across between any supported platform.
iCloud for Windows is a must-have tool for anyone who uses iCloud. That could be anyone of the millions of recent switchers who own an iPad or iPhone but mainly uses a Windows PC, or anyone else using multiple platforms.
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Jan 29, 2021
For years, the US government begged Apple executives to create a backdoor for law enforcement. Apple publicly resisted, arguing that any such move for law enforcement would quickly become a backdoor for cyberthieves and cyberterrorists.
Good security protects us all, the argument went.
More recently, though, the feds have stopped asking for a workaround to get through Apple security. Why? It turns out that they were able to break through on their own. iOS security, along with Android security, is simply not as strong as Apple and Google suggested.
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Jan 28, 2021
Something really interesting is happening right now — but looking out across the sea of floating headlines in these echo-filled virtual waters of ours, you'd never know it.
In fact, as far as most of the tech-watching world is concerned, the news right now is that Google's in the midst of rolling out an insignificant-seeming update to an unimportant operating system.
Goog almighty, are folks missing the boat.
More than a Chromebook story
Let me take a second to let everyone off the hook a little: It's easy to see why this news isn't getting the attention it deserves. First off, the development in question is connected to Chrome OS — and as we've established plenty of times over the years, lots of tech-lovin' folk have a distorted view of that platform's reach (remember, way more people bought Chromebooks than Macs in the most recent reported quarter) and its potential (long story short, we've come a looooooooong way from the basic "browser in the box" concept Chrome OS launched with nearly a decade ago).
To read this article in full, please click here
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Jan 28, 2021
It turns out that Big Tech doesn't need to sell privacy to make money. Selling useful hardware that does what people want is good business, too, which is why Apple's just reported its most profitable quarter in company history.
A new (Apple) world record
You've read the statement, and may have access to the transcript, so I won't bore you with repeats, other than observing that more than $15.8 billion in services sales, massive iPhone 12 sales and growth in every product category conspired to create the company's $111.4 billion quarter.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Jan 28, 2021
Microsoft this week released Application Guard for Office, a defensive technology that quarantines untrusted Office documents so attack code embedded in malicious files can't reach the operating system or its applications.
The announcement of Application Guard's general availability came five months after Microsoft kicked off a public preview of the technology. At that time, Microsoft's roadmap indicated a December 2020 debut for Application Guard for Office.
"When you've enabled Application Guard and a user opens a file from a potentially unsafe location, Office opens the file in Application Guard; a secured, Hyper-V-enabled container isolated from the rest of a user's data through hardware-based virtualization," Emil Karafezov, senior program manager, said in a Jan. 27 post to a company blog.
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Jan 28, 2021
Whether you're leading a sales call, a training session, or that hoped-for breakthrough presentation to the higher-ups, why not wow them by wirelessly connecting your laptop, tablet, or phone to the room's projector or large display? With the right gear, it's easier than you might think.
What's that? No one at your company has been to the office in the past 10 months because of a global pandemic? The good news is that some of the same inexpensive devices that stream entertainment media over a home Wi-Fi network — Chromecast, Apple TV, Roku, and others — can also be used in the boardroom. You can practice now while you're working from home, then be ready to hit the ground running later on when vaccines finish rolling out, the pandemic recedes, and offices reopen.
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Jan 27, 2021
Mozilla this week upgraded Firefox to version 85, adding to its overarching emphasis on privacy by isolating supercookies that some sites rely on to track users' movements on the web.
Engineers also patched 13 vulnerabilities, five of which were marked "High," Firefox's second-most-serious label.
Firefox 85 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 displays the refresh process.
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Jan 27, 2021
The enterprise tech startup sector is packed with companies capitalizing on growing demand — even amid the disruptions caused by the pandemic — for tools in the world of big data, devops, cloud, mobility, the internet of things and cybersecurity.
According to Gartner, global IT spending is expected to grow by 6.2% this year, with total spending projected to hit $3.9 trillion. The unprecedented acceleration of digital transformation in 2020 to satisfy the move to remote work, changes to education and new social norms presented by lockdowns has largely offset the early hit to IT spending caused by the COVID-19 outbreak.
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Jan 27, 2021
The enterprise tech startup sector is packed with companies capitalizing on growing demand — even amid the disruptions caused by the pandemic — for tools in the world of big data, devops, cloud, mobility, the internet of things and cybersecurity.
According to Gartner, global IT spending is expected to grow by 6.2% this year, with total spending projected to hit $3.9 trillion. The unprecedented acceleration of digital transformation in 2020 to satisfy the move to remote work, changes to education and new social norms presented by lockdowns has largely offset the early hit to IT spending caused by the COVID-19 outbreak.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Jan 27, 2021
Apple is experiencing astonishing Mac market growth in the U.S. enterprise markets, according to IDC, where it as seen macOS device use increase around a third since 2019.
Macs hit 23%
"The adoption of Mac usage in the enterprise (1,000 employees) is growing by many measures," IDC said, according to a Jamf announcement.
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Jan 27, 2021
Apple is experiencing astonishing Mac market growth in the US enterprise markets, according to IDC, where it has seen macOS device use increase around a third since 2019.
Macs 'growing by many measures'
"The adoption of Mac usage in the enterprise (1,000 employees) is growing by many measures," IDC said, according to a Jamf announcement. "In the United States, average penetration of macOS devices is around 23%, compared with 17% in 2019."
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Jan 26, 2021
I try my darndest not to spend too much time organizing my email on a daily basis. Mind you, I lean on a carefully crafted system of Gmail filters and labels to organize messages for me — doing everything from controlling which types of missives alert me to automatically filing certain types of emails into specific tabs I've repurposed.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Jan 26, 2021
The game of thrones among Apple's executive elite continues with news that current hardware engineering lead, Dan Riccio, is moving into a new role where he is, "creating something new and wonderful" at Apple.
What is new? What is wonderful?
Riccio, whose full title was senior vice president for hardware engineering, becomes vice president for engineering with John Ternus taking the SVP seat.
Riccio has been with Apple since 1998 and became the hardware engineering lead at the company in 2012. Ternus joined Apple's product design team in 2001 and led the iPhone 12 design team.
That's the job titles out the way. So, aside from the career moves, what seems to be in play here?
To read this article in full, please click here
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Jan 26, 2021
Once upon a time, in the early 1980s to be exact, you could pay hundreds of dollars for a PC program, or you could download a shareware program at the shocking high speed of 1200 bits per second (BPS). You'd then try the program, and if you liked it, could buy it for a fraction of the price of a commercial program. Then along came the web, and we could download programs at breathtaking speeds from 28.-33.6 kilobytes per second (Kbps). It was then, as programs grew from kilobites to megabites in size, that some thought a library of freeware and shareware programs on the web would be a great idea.
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(Insider Story)
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Jan 25, 2021
Microsoft's Edge 88, last week released, boasts major improvements to its password manager and debuted new tab features, including vertical tabs — something Chrome has yet to offer.
The Redmond, Wash. company also patched at least 24 security vulnerabilities, the most serious marked as "High," the second level in a four-step ranking system. Google's Chrome 88, which like Edge was built on the open-source Chromium project, included fixes for 36 flaws when it was released Jan. 19.
(Note: Starting Jan. 21, the day Microsoft delivered Edge 88, it began "...releasing the Chrome CVEs that are included in the new releases of Microsoft Edge (Chromium-based) directly in the Security Update Guide." For more information on what that meant, steer to this explanation.)
To read this article in full, please click here
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Jan 25, 2021
Microsoft has unveiled plans to integrate Teams with a range of SAP business applications, enabling workers to share information more easily without leaving the collaboration platform.
The two companies announced that the German enterprise software vendor's S/4HANA enterprise resource planning (ERP) application, used by many of the world's largest organizations, will connect into Microsoft's collaboration platform. There are also plans for integrations with SAP's SuccessFactors HR application and SAP Customer Experience, a customer relationship management (CRM) platform.
The announcement was part of a broader deal that will see SAP S/4HANA hosted on Microsoft's Azure cloud infrastructure.
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Jan 25, 2021
The first HomeKit-compatible Thread accessories are beginning to appear, and while that's good news for consumers it should also be good news for enterprise users.
What the Thread?
Originally designed by Nest, Samsung and ARM, Thread is an IP-based connectivity standard for smart devices.
It's a low power mesh technology protocol that makes use of existing standards, such as IPv6, BLE, and others. At its simplest, it means devices from different manufacturers should be able to work well together, securely, responsively and with minimal cost to battery life.
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Jan 25, 2021
Ask someone what antivirus software they use and you'll probably get a near-religious argument about which one they have installed. Antivirus choices are often about what we trust — or don't — on our operating system. I've seen some Windows users indicate they would rather have a third-party vendor watch over and protect their systems. Others, like me, view antivirus software as less important these days; it matters more that your antivirus vendor can handle windows updating properly and won't cause issues.
Still others rely on Microsoft Defender. It's been around in one form or another since Windows XP.
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Jan 25, 2021
Demand for laptops soared to record levels in 2020, driven by the work-at-home and school-at-home requirements brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. Notebook sales rocketed past 200 million in a year, a record-breaking 22.5% year-over-year increase, according to market intelligence firm TrendForce.
Microsoft should be celebrating. But look closely and you'll find a disturbing trend for the company: Chromebook sales went sky-high last year, with nearly 30 million purchased. That represents 74% year-over-year growth and comprises 15% of notebook market share — eating into Microsoft's share of the important segment. TrendForce notes: "Due to the rapid growth of Chromebooks in 2020, Windows' [notebook] market share dropped below 80% for the first time ever."
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(Insider Story)
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Jan 22, 2021
Still working from home? Many of us are. What follows is some advice and a selection of apps that should help you optimize your workspace to protect your health during the remote work day.
What are ergonomics?
The Mayo Clinic explains how good office ergonomics can help mitigate work-related neck and back pain and potential problems with repetitive strain injury (RSI), arthritis and other physical challenges that arise when we spend too long strapped to an office chair.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Jan 22, 2021
"You have zero privacy anyway. Get over it," Scott McNealy said of online privacy back in 1999, a view the former CEO of the now-defunct Sun Microsystems reiterated in 2015. Despite the hue and cry his initial remarks caused, he's been proven largely correct.
Cookies, beacons, digital signatures, trackers, and other technologies on websites and in apps let advertisers, businesses, governments, and even criminals build a profile about what you do, who you know, and who you are at very intimate levels of detail. Remember that 2012 story about how Target could tell a teenager was pregnant before her parents knew, based on her online activities? That is the norm today. Google and Facebook are the most notorious commercial internet spies, and among the most pervasive, but they are hardly alone.
To read this article in full, please click here
(Insider Story)
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Jan 22, 2021
A new Android version is intriguing, exciting, and — let's be honest — sometimes a little perplexing. Especially nowadays, it's all too common to see a shiny new update show up on your phone, eagerly look to see what fresh treats are in store, and then find yourself scratching your head as you struggle to see what's different and how you should be taking advantage of whatever was delivered to your device.
There's no denying it: Android's evolution has grown significantly more subtle over the years. Whereas early Android updates represented massive leaps forward and near-constant reinventions of the operating system, more modern Android rollouts tend to revolve mostly around refinement and small but significant touches. It's a sensible shift at this point in the platform's development, but it often makes it tough to know if you're tapping into everything Google's latest software provides.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Jan 21, 2021
Microsoft never sleeps. In addition to its steady releases of major and minor updates to the current version of Windows 10, the company frequently rolls out public preview builds to members of its Windows Insider Program, allowing them to test out — and even help shape — upcoming features.
Microsoft numbers Windows 10 releases using 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 the most recent version of Windows is officially referred to as Windows 10 version 20H2, or the October 2020 Update. The next feature update, due in the spring of 2021, will be version 21H1.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Jan 21, 2021
Back in Android's earliest days — way, way back in the prehistoric era of 2010 and the years around it — the platform was a promising but messy piecemeal effort. It was fresh, it was packed with power and potential, and it was absolutely exciting. But it also had virtually no standards surrounding it, and it consequently felt like a mishmosh of conflicting interface styles and design patterns.
In those early days, in fact, that was a frequent criticism you'd hear from folks on the Apple side of the fence: Android was inconsistent. It was disjointed. It wasn't, ahem, an elegant user experience.
And you know what? In many ways, they were right. Android had a lot to offer from the get-go and presented some intriguing advantages over Apple's then especially locked-down and tightly controlled approach, but design and interface consistency were certainly not strengths of the platform at that point. Anyone who tries to tell you otherwise is either delusional or forgetting what, exactly, the experience of using a Gingerbread-era Android device was like. Powerful? Yup — you'd better believe it. But polished? Yeah — not so much.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Jan 21, 2021
Disclosure: Microsoft is a client of the author.
Mixed reality (MR) in the consumer market has been less than exciting, but it's been a big hit in business — particularly in manufacturing and training. Lockheed Martin was one of the first companies to embrace this technology (along with other aerospace firms like Boing). In a presentation this week, Lockheed Martin execs explained where the technology — which relies on Hololens — worked and where it could work in the future as it evolves. They also contrasted HoloLens I and II, saying the latter was far more useful over a more extended time.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Jan 21, 2021
Google earlier this week released Chrome 88, adding capabilities to the browser's password manager; streamlining permission requests from sites that asked, say, to switch on the microphone; and for enterprises, ending support for an add-on that called up Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE) to render old intranet websites and legacy apps.
The Mountain View, Calif. search giant also paid out more than $81,000 in bounties to security researchers who reported some of the 36 vulnerabilities addressed in Chrome 88. One of the bugs was marked "Critical," Google's top-most threat level (and resulted in a $30,000 reward to its finder, researcher Rory McNamara). Nine others were tagged as "High," the second-most-serious ranking. A number of the bounties — 10, including three of those labeled "High" — had not yet been assigned a dollar amount, so Google's final payout will certainly be higher than the acknowledged total.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Jan 21, 2021
Remote work became the new normal quickly as COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns came into force in spring 2020, and it's clear that after the pandemic recedes, remote work will remain the norm for many employees — as much as half the deskbound "white collar" workforce, various research firms estimate. As a result of the sudden lockdowns, many employees had to create makeshift workspaces, buy or repurpose personal equipment, and figure out how to use new software and services to be able to keep doing their jobs.
Navigating the WFH world
Remote working, now and forevermore?
The work-from-home employee's bill of rights
How to set up a WFH ‘office' for the long term
The New Normal: When work-from-home means the boss is watching
10 tips to set up your WFH office for videoconferencing
Users and IT departments alike made Herculean efforts to adapt quickly and ensure business continuity, and the result was an improvement in productivity despite the pandemic. But now the pandemic has become a longer-term phenomenon, and remote work will become more commonplace, even desirable as a way to save on office expenses and commute time, even after the pandemi
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Jan 20, 2021
Apple appears to have kick-started development and implementation of the Ultra WideBand standard first deployed in a mass market product in iPhone 11 — and now available in smartphones from Apple and other manufacturers.
This technological deployment is beginning to transform into new business cases, so what do we have so far?
In the heat of the sun
Digitimes tells us interest in the standard is increasing fast. It also details some of the big names to have recently joined the UWB Alliance, a roster which does not at this point include Apple.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Jan 20, 2021
In February 2020, before lockdown restrictions had even come into force in many countries, Zoom announced it had already added more new users in the first two months of 2020 than it had in all of 2019.
As lockdowns were introduced in North America and across Europe last year because of the pandemic, companies bought up Zoom licenses en masse, often with little due diligence or long-term planning by those purchasing them. That rush helped make Zoom's videoconferencing software a go-to solution for remote workers who needed to stay connected.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Jan 19, 2021
Google plans to revoke others' Chromium-based browsers' access to a long list of APIs that power such popular services as bookmark and settings synchronization.
"We discovered that some third-party Chromium-based browsers were able to integrate Google features, such as Chrome Sync and Click to Call, that are only intended for Google's use," Jochen Eisinger, Chrome engineering director, wrote in a Jan. 15 post to a company blog.
Access to what Eisinger labeled "our private Chrome APIs" will be blocked starting March 15.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Jan 19, 2021
"An iPod, a phone, and an Internet Communicator," said then-Apple CEO Steve Jobs when introducing the iPhone on Jan. 9, 2007. But thanks to apps, it's turned into so much more than that, replacing numerous items of office equipment.
The phone system
Remember telephone systems? Smartphones replace them, though if you really want to recreate the office telephony experience — particularly when dealing with a geographically remote and distributed team — you'll turn to a VoIP softphone, such those from 3CX, Zoiper, or Acrobits. These let you handle internal and external calls far more effectively, using defined business contact details rather than personal numbers.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Jan 19, 2021
Hear ye, hear ye, my fellow Google Docs denizens: Have I got just the treat for you.
It's a clever new system of next-level shortcuts you can add into the Google Docs website — shortcuts that go beyond the basic options already built into the service and give you a more Slack-like, command-line-driven method of performing advanced actions. I've been using 'em myself for a couple days now, and lemme tell ya: They totally change the way you use Google Docs — for the better.
The shortcuts come courtesy of a tasty and relatively new little Chrome extension called gSweets. The way it works is simple: You just add the extension into your browser, and the next time you open up a document in Docs on your computer, you'll see a snazzy new gray prompt at the beginning of every new line.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Jan 19, 2021
What's the most important piece of productivity software in the business world? Some might say the office suite. But if you look at the time spent actually using software, the answer may well be the web browser. It's where people do most of their fact-finding and research.
But that's only a start. These days, web apps like Google Docs, Gmail, Outlook Online, Salesforce, Asana, Jira, and countless others are accessed via the browser as well. So browsers have become your window to work as well as your window to the world.
Which is the best browser for your business? To find out, we've put the three leading cross-platform browsers — Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, and Mozilla Firefox — to the test. We looked at the basics, like overall interface, speed, and HTML compatibility. Then we moved beyond that to safety and privacy, the availability of extensions, syncing data and settings across multiple devices and platforms, and extra features. We ended up comparing the tools each vendor provides for IT to deploy, manage, and configure its browser.
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(Insider Story)
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Jan 18, 2021
The Apple Watch and other smart wearables may have an important part to play in the struggle against COVID-19 and should help businesses provide better healthcare protection to staff.
Wearables can predict infection
Two recent independent studies from Mount Sinai Health System and Stanford University show that Apple Watch and other sensor-packed fitness wearables from Garmin and Fitbit can signal the early sign of COVID-19 infection days before symptoms appear.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Jan 18, 2021
I'm not ready to give an all-clear to the security patches released Jan. 12, and I want to warn you about one specific update that is affecting HyperV servers and some consumer level workstations.
KB4535680, also known as Security update for Secure Boot DBX: January 12, 2021, makes improvements to Secure Boot DBX for a number of supported Windows versions. These include Windows Server 2012 x64-bit; Windows Server 2012 R2 x64-bit; Windows 8.1 x64-bit; Windows Server 2016 x64-bit; Windows Server 2019 x64-bit; Windows 10, version 1607 x64-bit; Windows 10; version 1803 x64-bit; Windows 10, version 1809 x64-bit; and Windows 10, version 1909 x64-bit. Key changes affect "Windows devices that [have] Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) based firmware that can run with Secure Boot enabled." The Secure Boot Forbidden Signature Database (DBX) prevents malicious UEFI modules from loading; this update adds additional modules to block malicious attackers who could successfully exploit the vulnerability, bypass secure boot, and load untrusted software.
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Jan 15, 2021
Microsoft rolled into 2021 with a fairly benign update cycle for Windows and Microsoft Office systems, delivering 83 updates for January.
Yes, there is an update to Windows defender (CVE-2021-1647) that has been reported as exploited. Yes, there has been a publicly disclosed issue (CVE-2021-1648) in the Windows printing subsystem. But there are no Zero-days and no "Patch Now" recommendations for this month. There are, however, a large number of feature and functionality groups "touched" by these updates; we recommend a comprehensive test of printing and key graphics areas before general Windows update deployment.
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Jan 15, 2021
Regional IT events
Africa
Australia
Middle East
Southeast Asia
Global security events
Computerworld has compiled a list of upcoming technology events for the IT industry taking place in the following weeks and months.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Jan 14, 2021
When Apple shipped macOS Big Sur in November, researchers quickly spotted a strange anomaly in the system's security protection that could have left Macs insecure. Apple now seems to be dealing with this problem, introducing a fix in the latest public beta release.
What was wrong?
For some strange reason, Big Sur introduced a controversial and potentially insecure change that meant Apple's own apps could still access the internet even when a user blocked all access from that Mac using a firewall. This wasn't in tune with Apple's traditional security stance. What made this worse is that when those apps (and there were 56 in all) did access the ‘Net, user and network traffic monitoring applications were unable to monitor this use.
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Jan 14, 2021
When Apple shipped macOS Big Sur in November, researchers quickly spotted a strange anomaly in the system's security protection that could have left Macs insecure. Apple now seems to be dealing with this problem, introducing a fix in the latest public beta release.
What was wrong?
For some strange reason, Big Sur introduced a controversial and potentially insecure change that meant Apple's own apps could still access the internet even when a user blocked all access from that Mac using a firewall. This wasn't in tune with Apple's traditional security stance. What made this worse is that when those apps (and there were 56 in all) did access the ‘Net, user and network traffic monitoring applications were unable to monitor this use.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Jan 14, 2021
The PC market rebounded last year, sporting the highest growth rate in a decade, industry analysts said this week, pinning credit (or blame) on the coronavirus pandemic.
Research firm IDC pegged 2020's global shipments of personal computers at 302.6 million devices, a 13% increase over the year prior, which represented the largest annual gain since 2010. The shipment volume was the largest since 2014, said Jitesh Ubrani, research manager with IDC's mobile device trackers team, in an interview.
The turnaround was striking: Of the past 10 years, six saw year-over-year declines while one had been flat.
Gartner Research, an IDC rival, also claimed a notable boost in PC shipments. Even though Gartner's numbers for 2020 differed from IDC's — the former firm said last year's increase was just under 5%, less than half IDC's — it agreed that that growth was the highest measured since 2010.
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Jan 14, 2021
This year's CES, which ends today, has been fascinating because it's showcased a coming shift in product design based on the assumption that — rather than everyone going into the office — many people will remain working at home for the foreseeable future.
One of the most exciting sessions at the virtual event focused on this new work-from-home normal. My former colleague from CNET, Brian Cooley, joined Paul Lee from Deloitte LLP, Megan Wollerton from CNET Home, and Jennifer Kent from Parks Associates to talk about where we are now and what's coming.
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Jan 14, 2021
The biggest story in the Android universe this week is the pending arrival of Samsung's latest and greatest Galaxy flagships — the Galaxy S21 and its various cousins, expected to be unveiled at a virtual event later this morning. The phones will almost certainly be the de facto standard bearers of the high-end Android experience for the months ahead, and they're all but certain to be among the top-selling premium Android devices of 2021.
In many ways, it's not surprising. When it comes to high-end Android phones, Samsung does a lot of things right — from its sleek, eye-catching hardware designs to its exceptional build quality and frequently top-of-the-line components. And that's to say nothing of the equally or perhaps even more important no-holds-barred marketing strategy that's helped Samsung gain and maintain its dominant position within the Android ranks.
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Jan 13, 2021
Office workers may be an obvious target audience for Microsoft Teams, but elements of the collaboration platform have also been tailored for front-line employees, such as retail workers, field technicians and hospital staff. On Wednesday, Microsoft unveiled a handful of new features aimed at supporting staff in these roles — retail in particular — including the ability to publish task lists to specific teams across an organization.
Often overlooked when it comes to spending on digital tools, front-line workers typically spend less time at a desk and their primary computing device is more likely to be a smartphone rather than a laptop. It is a large market: there are more than 2 billion such workers globally, Microsoft claims, and Teams has received several updates in recent years to cater to those at the edge of their organization.
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Jan 13, 2021
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.
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Jan 13, 2021
Apple has taken a series of what should be major steps to help dismantle some of the barriers faced by communities of color as part of its $100 million Racial Equity and Justice Initiative.
Knowledge is power
Understanding that education — and access to it — is critical to empower access to opportunity and make communities more resilient, Apple has announced:
Investment in the Propel Center, a global innovation and learning hub for Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
The launch of an Apple Developer Academy to support coding and tech education for students in Detroit.
Venture capital funding for Black and Brown entrepreneurs.
Apple announced its Racial Equity and Justice Initiative in June 2019, part of its corporate response to global protests against the killings of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and countless others.
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Jan 13, 2021
Apple has taken a series of what should be major steps to help dismantle some of the barriers faced by communities of color as part of its $100 million Racial Equity and Justice Initiative.
Knowledge is power
Understanding that education and access to it is critical to empower access to opportunity and make communities more resilient, Apple has announced:
Investment in the Propel Center, a global innovation and learning hub for Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
The launch of an Apple Developer Academy to support coding and tech education for students in Detroit.
Venture capital funding for Black and Brown entrepreneurs.
Apple announced its Racial Equity and Justice Initiative in June 2019, part of its corporate response to global protests against the killings of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and countless others.
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Jan 12, 2021
Stop me if you've heard this before: Apple seems to be closer to actually introducing the near-mythical AirTags, which you'll no doubt use to track hardware, devices, and the vehicles that make up your transit fleet.
What we think we know
This is a long-running story. We first began to anticipate introduction of these products after WWDC 2019. Later, we thought they might show up even before the iPhone 12, or even as part of the company's holiday season launches.
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Jan 12, 2021
Android may be Google's highest profile platform, but Chrome OS is the arguably the place where the fastest and most exciting progress tends to go down these days.
Every year as of late, we see leaps and bounds being made in how Chromebooks work and what they're capable of doing — the types of programs they're able to run, the kinds of advantages they're able to offer, and the interesting ways they're able to interact with Android to create a more connected and cohesive-feeling experience.
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Jan 12, 2021
Facebook hopes to make it easier to get work done within Workplace via new productivity features — some natively built, others from third parties — and other changes it has in mind this year for Workplace, its enterprise social network.
The Workplace platform, which jettisoned its free tier last month, had grown to 5 million paid users as of last May, including a roster of enterprise customers such as Nestle and Walmart in the four-and-a-half years since its launch.
Facebook Workplace
Ujjwal Singh, head of product at Facebook Workplace.
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Jan 12, 2021
I'm a lucky guy. I can pick up new operating systems and desktop interfaces at the drop of a hat. But, over the years of learning how to make IBM 3270, CP/M-80, and Windows 1.0 to 10 jump through hoops, I've gotten a wee bit tired of it all. So, when I saw that "Windows 10's desktop interface will get an all-new look with Sun Valley update in 2021," I almost screamed.
No, forget it, I have no patience and I must scream.
No. Just no!
Excuse me. I've learned how to use Windows 1.0's mouse-enabled, almost text interface; Windows 2.0's flat two-dimensional interface; Windows 3 and OS/2's Presentation Manager; the Windows eXPerience; the pure misery of Vista Aero; the pleasure that was Windows 7 Aero; the return to the pain with Windows 8's Metro; and finally the cleaned Metro which made Windows 10 tolerable followed by the recent shift to Fluent.
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(Insider Story)
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Jan 11, 2021
Microsoft today unveiled the Surface Pro 7 , a new device in its 2-in-1 PC line, that will be sold only to commercial and educational customers.
A variant of the consumer-aimed Surface Pro 7, the new model sports the same 12.3-in. display, a choice between three Intel processors, and SSD (solid-state drive) options up to 1TB. Like the Pro 7, the 7 can mutate from more-or-less notebook form factor to tablet, with or without the optional keyboard still attached.
But the Pro 7 tweaks some of those characteristics to better fit corporate customers, Microsoft argued. "Surface Pro 7 is purpose-built with the needs of our business and education customers in mind," asserted Robin Seiler, a corporate vice president in the Microsoft Devices group, in a post to a company blog.
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Jan 11, 2021
The lens of history shows Apple's most heavily criticized decisions often become justified over time, whether that's abandoning headphone ports, focusing on on-device AI, or letting the Ping social network disappear.
Apple's social media failure now looks like success
Introduced in 2010, Apple marketing touted Ping as a "social network for music." The company had hoped to work with Facebook on the service, but CEO Steve Jobs said the other company wanted terms he saw as "onerous."
Instead, Apple ended up with a hugely limited system that no one really used, and a great deal of friction between Apple and Facebook. Not surprisingly, Ping never became a vibrant social network.
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Jan 11, 2021
It's Patch Tuesday time — that exciting second Tuesday of each month when we turn towards Redmond, WA, hoping for quality updates — and my advice is to not install updates tomorrow. To be fair, the vast majority of Microsoft users should be fine with whatever patches and fixes arrive. But, personally, I push off updates and delay installations on the systems I care about; you should do the same.
With that piece of advice out of the way, I have some suggestions for 2021 for a healthy patching year.
Susan's first recommendation of ‘21: Use Windows 10 Pro, not Home.
I recommend several things when dealing with updates: First and foremost, make sure you are on Windows 10 professional, not Windows 10 Home.
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Jan 11, 2021
For the first time since the dot-com bust of 2000-2002, US IT salaries were flat in 2020, rising a negligible 0.08% to an average of $94,609 per year, according to the most recent survey of IT executives by management consultancy Janco Associates. The year also ended with 55,900 fewer jobs than the US IT industry had on Jan. 1, 2020 — a drop of 1.5% for the year. (Last week, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics [BLS] revised its figures for 2020, resulting in a revised drop of 55,900 versus the 81,100 reported previously.)
A separate survey by the industry association CompTIA, using BLS data, showed that the broad US tech industry showed job growth of 391,000 positions (22,000 of which were at tech vendors) in December 2020 — even as the US as a whole lost 140,000 jobs. About 44% of those tech sector jobs are for positions such as IT staff, software developers, and IT project managers; the rest are support positions such as sales, marketing, and management.
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Jan 11, 2021
As IT leaders meet the challenges of the COVID era, only one thing is assured - more change is coming sooner than you think.
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Jan 11, 2021
In spring 2020, tens of millions of people worldwide were suddenly thrust into remote work as the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns came into force. IT and users alike adapted quickly, and companies were able to keep doing business relatively easily given the scope of the change. What's more, employee productivity actually went up — and stayed that way even after the initial adrenaline surge wore off — across the globe, from Australia to the US.
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Jan 08, 2021
The 2021 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), which runs Jan. 11-14, will be interesting this year both as a showcase for how large-scale tech conferences are done and for the content focused on the new work-from-home normal. Some of the sessions next week could be useful for those either building products for this pandemic present or working to complete their shift to to it.
Here are a few of the sessions that I'm looking to attend.
The future of work in 2021: Work transformed
This session is likely to showcase what's already changed and is working and what lessons have been learned. It should highlight the gaps in current offerings to help companies plan for an extended WFH world. This approach is particularly timely as companies come to believe that remote work is less transitory and more permanent.
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Jan 08, 2021
Apple will introduce a faster form of Wi-Fi 7, Wi-Fi 6E, into iPhones starting with the iPhone 13 series, according to the analysts at Barclays. What is this? Why does it matter? And what might this mean for your enterprise?
A year in eight days
Given that most Apple users haven't yet installed Wi-Fi 6 routers in their homes and offices because of the cost of that equipment, news of a follow-up standard may not seem terribly important. Particularly following the long and traumatic year that is the first week of 2021, one of the more benigh highlights of which being that the Wi-Fi Alliance has now begun certifying Wi-Fi 6E devices.
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Jan 08, 2021
Regional IT events
Africa
Australia
Middle East
Southeast Asia
Global security events
Computerworld has compiled a list of upcoming technology events for the IT industry taking place in the following weeks and months.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Jan 08, 2021
In some offices, computers are shared between two or more employees or temporary workers. That sounds like a recipe for disaster, but Windows 10 has great tools for allowing multiple people to share a single PC without letting them read, edit, or delete each other's files and folders; use or delete each other's applications; or make system-wide customizations.
These tools can also be a big help for people who work from home and need to share their PC with a family member some of the time. They allow you to set up and log in with different user profiles so each user has access to only their own files and folders, apps, and preferences. In this piece, I'll show you what to do.
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Jan 07, 2021
Microsoft plans to produce a one-app-for-all Outlook that runs within the browser as a replacement for the various Windows, Mac, iOS and Android editions of the company's premier email application, according to reports.
Code named "Monarch" and part of an already-announced project dubbed "One Outlook," the web-based app would replace the desktop and mobile versions on all platforms, from desktop to laptop to tablet to phone. WindowsCentral, one of the first to report on Monarch, also said that the app will be based on the current Outlook web app at outlook.com and outlook.office365.com.
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Jan 07, 2021
Just as it did last year, Apple is pressing forward with even more big plans for 2021. Here's what we think you can expect from the company this year.
Macs and Apple Silicon
Apple has really accomplished something with its move to Apple Silicon inside Macs. These machines have generated incredibly positive reviews, and the company will inevitably address any rough edges moving forward.
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Jan 07, 2021
If you've known me for long, you know I'm not a fan of those hollow, wide-reaching predictions people love to make this time of year (well, with one noteworthy exception). But trends — now, trends are something I can get behind. Trends are less about pretending to have some manner of magic crystal ball and more about observing genuine patterns and big-picture shifts over time.
And when it comes to Google and the start of 2021, whoo boy, have we got a budding trend worth talking about right now. It's something that gets at the very heart of Google's business, its ambitions, and its plans for connecting with us as customers and users of its various products and services.
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Jan 06, 2021
Apple just announced its third straight year of record App Store sales. Enterprises attempting to survive the current environment must now think deeply on what this might mean for their business.
Keep your distance
Apple's statistics reflect the socially distanced global business environment. This is also reflected in Apple's Mobility Trends report, which shows a decline in routing requests through Maps in most locations.
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Jan 06, 2021
Doors are opening for IT pro's with cybersecurity training throughout nearly every industry. But adding this particular specialty to your skillset isn't as cut and dry as you might think. That's because the field is often broken down into different disciplines, each with its own specific training criteria. And it's for this reason that The Ultimate Cybersecurity and IT Career Certification Pathway Training Bundle is a great option, especially for those who aren't sure what direction they want to go in.
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Jan 06, 2021
In most areas of IT, you can learn only so much from school or certification courses; eventually, it's crucial to get hands-on experience. And so it is with Windows administration.
Most fields have an experience conundrum to some degree: You need experience to qualify for a particular job, but you can't get that experience until you have done that job. A great thing about IT, though, is that it's sometimes possible to do an end run around the problem. In IT, hands-on experience can often be acquired using tools on your own computer or accessible through your current job before you try to get the new job.
Another thing about IT, or more specifically, the techies who work in it, is that we love to play around with new things. Here are eight Windows administration-related projects you can perform either at home or at work to get real hands-on experience. Best of all, you can do all of these very inexpensively, possibly without spending a cent.
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(Insider Story)
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Jan 05, 2021
Happy New Year! I don't know about you, but I find the start of a fresh voyage around this shiny ol' sun of ours to be a fine time for tidying up, optimizing, and getting good and organized for the months ahead. And while I'd love to pretend I'm the type of person who has one of those disgustingly pristine, clutter-free desks you see on the internet, let me be brutally honest: The physical space around me tends to resemble a half-abandoned hog parlor.
But my Android phone? My Android phone is as orderly as can be, gosh darn it. And if you ask me, that makes far more of a difference than the state of the physical space around me.
Our mobile devices are where we do so much of our actual work and contemplation these days, after all — and yet it's all too easy to overlook the importance of maintaining an optimal arrangement for both productivity and security within 'em. So now, as we gaze ahead at the promise-filled 2021 calendar, join me in taking 10 minutes to get your own trusty Android phone fine-tuned and fully ready for the coming year.
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Jan 05, 2021
Jamf says Apple's devices are now in use across the world's biggest and most valuable brands as the pace of change accelerates in response to COVID-19. I spoke with CEO, Dean Hager.
Apple in the enterprise
Apple is seeing growth across all industries, though its trajectory is a little slower in the financial industry, field services and transportation, Hager said.
He observed that COVID-19 means even those industries are now changing, as the ability to remain connected and productive now requires all workers to have the right technology.
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Jan 05, 2021
For the first time since the dot-com bust of 2000-2002, US IT salaries were flat in 2020, rising a negligible 0.08% to an average of $94,609 per year, according to the most recent survey of IT executives by management consultancy Janco Associates. The year also ended with 84,000 fewer jobs than the US IT industry had on Jan. 1, 2020 — a drop of 2.3% for the year.
Middle managers lost the most pay ground in 2020, with an average 0.08% salary reduction at large enterprises and 0.07% reduction at mid-sized enterprises. IT staff saw 0.03% average salary increases in large enterprises and 0.04% in medium enterprises. Executives did the best, of course: their salaries were up 0.59% in large enterprises and up 0.35% in medium ones.
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Jan 05, 2021
Ten months after the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic, triggering a worldwide shift to a work-from-home model, employers across the globe are trying to plan when and how to safely bring employees back into physical office spaces. With employee anxiety, social distancing regulations, and technology investments to consider, reopening offices could prove to be even more complex than shutting them down.
Some organizations decided months ago to tackle the issue head-on. Goldman Sachs' London office, for instance, initially reopened on June 15, despite UK guidelines at the time urging people to work from home where possible. Most have taken a more cautious approach, however, repeatedly pushing back the date when they expect employees back in the office.
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(Insider Story)
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Jan 04, 2021
A well-crafted resume will attract recruiters, HR pros and hiring managers, but getting it just right is a daunting task. To jump start the process, Insider Pro has assembled this collection of real resumes revamped by professional resume writers. (Watch this space for new templates.)
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Jan 04, 2021
Although Adobe stopped serving updates for its Flash Player last month — and will disable the plug-in on Jan. 12 — Microsoft will be in charge of uninstalling the software from Windows PCs.
(Adobe has recommended that users remove Flash from their personal computers to "help secure your system since Adobe does not intend to issue Flash Player updates or security patches after the EOL Date.")
Users can, of course, manually uninstall Flash using the steps Adobe posted on its website.
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Jan 04, 2021
Microsoft recently announced that its Windows source code had been viewed by the Solarwinds attackers. (Normally, only key government customers and trusted partners would have this level of access to the "stuff" of which Windows is made.) The attackers were able to read - but not change - the software secret sauce, raising questions and concerns among Microsoft customers. Did it mean, perhaps, that attackers could inject backdoor processes into Microsoft's updating processes
First, a bit of background on the Solarwinds attack, also called Solorigate: An attacker got into a remote management/monitoring tool company and was able to inject itself into the development process and build a backdoor. When the software was updated through the normal updating processes set up by Solarwinds, the backdoored software was deployed into customer systems — including numerous US government agencies. The attacker was then able to silently spy on several activities across these customers.
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Jan 04, 2021
It was perhaps inevitable that the services we all rely on would creak as much of the world returned to work today. And a glance at DownDetector confirms that with millions working from home and hundreds of millions of unread messages to get through, some of the world's biggest enterprise focused services are feeling the strain.
Most obviously, Slack was down for several hours during the day, to the annoyance of workers venting about it on Twitter.
Stay connected
These misfortunes should open up fresh conversations as we head into the second year of the pandemic. Enterprise resilience has been sorely tested across the last year. Very swiftly, businesses had to reassemble supply chains, reconfigure internal and external systems, and empower as many employees as they could with the tools they needed to work from home. In the second phase, they began to tweak their deployments as it became clear that the battle against COVID-19 would be a marathon, not a sprint.
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Jan 04, 2021
Microsoft's been jacking around Windows 10 since the moment it released the OS.
In those five years, the Redmond, WA company has changed the intervals at which it refreshes Windows 10 — doing so, in fact, multiple times — changed how long it will support Windows 10, again more than once, and downgraded some versions of the operating system to second-class status or made others worthless as a client for business purposes. Its rewritten rules more than an 8-year-old losing at Monopoly and moved the goalposts so often that the end zone is out beyond the parking lot. Customer confusion has been constant, with time wasted figuring where things stand or wondering why they've been turned upside down, inside out.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Dec 31, 2020
Taking notes is serious business, and having the right note-taking app for your Android device can make a world of difference in your ability to stay organized. That's because a good note-taking app doesn't just help you take notes; it also makes it easy to find what you've saved later, regardless of where you are or what type of device you're using at that point.
But figuring out which note-taking app makes the most sense for you isn't always easy. The Google Play Store has an endless array of similar-seeming options, and what's ideal for one person may not be optimal for another.
[ Related: The best Android apps for business in 2021 ]
I've spent a lot of time exploring the most prominent contenders for note-taking on Android, and I've identified the apps that rise to the top in three core categories: a "best for most people" tier, with a happy-medium balance of features and usability; a "best fully featured" division, with a focus on apps that provide a more robust set of functions for those who need it; and a "best no-frills" class that offers a recommendation for those seeking the utmost in simplicity. I'm also including a bonus category to highlight a relatively new up-and-coming app that isn't quite fleshed out enough yet to earn a full recommendation but that's worth checking out and keeping on your radar.
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Dec 30, 2020
The new normal involves increased use of collaboration and remote working tools such as Trello, Slack, Notion, WebEx, and Zoom. But what other tools can your teams use to collaborate remotely on complex ideas?
Perhaps these digital whiteboard apps can help.
While many of these solutions are aimed at educational professionals, they should be useful to any knowledge worker attempting to explain something and for group collaboration within teams.
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Dec 30, 2020
Through most of 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, technology served as a lifeline for many businesses, keeping teams connected and working as offices shut down and employees set up offices at home. No technology arguably had a bigger impact on that shift than videoconferencing.
As 2021 arrives, video calls have become a part of corporate life that would have been unthinkable a year ago. Zoom — a platform previously known only to those who used it for work — became so popular that it is now a verb, used and understood commonly around the world as shorthand for a videoconference. (And "Zoombombing" became a related epithet.)
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Dec 29, 2020
Use Microsoft Word on your Intel or Apple Silicon Mac? You may need one of these tips, many of which work with other Office applications.
Tell Me will guide you
Have you really explored the Tell Me item at the top application ribbon, just beside View? I was so impressed by Tell Me when I first got a look at it. It continues to become increasingly useful, particularly given the extent of the tools Microsoft puts inside its productivity suite.
It works like this: When you don't know how to engage in a task within an Office app, tap Tell Me and begin typing what you need to do in as simple a way as you can.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Dec 29, 2020
More than any other platform, Chrome OS is in a constant state of evolution — and if you blink for a minute, you're bound to miss some significant new improvement or addition.
I mean, heck, this past year alone, Chrome OS has gained support for Windows apps, in the enterprise, in addition to its existing support for Android and Linux programs; it's gotten an expanded and rebranded "Everything button" that changes the way you perform tasks and search for all sorts of information on a Chromebook; and it's on the brink of getting a fancy new Android-connecting Phone Hub along with some potentially transformative foundational adjustments to how the operating system works and what it does and doesn't include (whew!).
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Dec 29, 2020
Remembering technology pioneers, innovators, and leaders In Memoriam 2020 Luminaries we lost this year" data-license="Getty Images"/Image by FreedomMaster / Getty Images
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Dec 28, 2020
It's that time of the month to give the final 2020 all-clear for installing updates.
Microsoft has already fixed the issue with KB4592438 for Windows 10 20H2 and 2004, where if you were lucky, or rather, unlucky enough to perform a chkdsk c: /f on your system after installing the December updates you might have been forced to rebuild your system — not exactly the greatest holiday present from Microsoft. As I noted last week, this issue was fixed with a cryptic behind-the-scenes update for those who get their updates from Windows update.
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Dec 28, 2020
After scrambling in 2020 to keep business operations going amid a pandemic, companies are eyeing even higher spending in 2021 on collaboration tools to support remote workers. But with vaccines rolling out now and uncertainty about what a "hybrid workplace" might look like, those same companies are likely to spend cautiously due to uncertainty about the wider economic environment.
Even with vaccinations offering hope for something of a return to normal in the year ahead, remote work will remain a necessity for many organizations. More than half (54%) of respondents to a Pew survey published this month said they want to work from home "all or most of the time" when the coronavirus outbreak is over, while a third would do so "some of the time." Only 11% say they'd want to do this "rarely or never."
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Dec 24, 2020
Tech gear is a perennially popular holiday gift. If you're the proud owner of a new phone, tablet, computer or other device — or you provide tech support for family and friends with new devices — we're here to help.
Check out and share these stories, which can help you get the most out of a new Android or iOS device, Chromebook, Mac, or Windows PC.
[ Further reading: Online privacy: Best browsers, settings, and tips ]
Android devices
The best Android apps for business in 2021
Our Android expert highlights the standout apps in the categories that matter most to busy professionals: office apps, privacy and security apps, email and texting apps, note-taking apps, apps for team collaboration, apps for organizing your life, and more.
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Dec 23, 2020
As Günter Born recently reported at Born's Tech and Windows World, KB4592438 has a bug that triggers a blue screen of death when you run the chkdsk c: /f command, leaving the hardware unable to boot. Several others confirmed the issue independently in the various venues and forums. Still others graciously decided to risk their systems and install the update and when they ran the command had zero issues. I tested it myself and also didn't see a blue screen of death.
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Dec 23, 2020
Millions of individuals and business users have come to love and depend on IFTTT and all of the cool "codeless automations" it makes possible between disparate web-based apps and services.
But changes to the platform in recent years have begun to drawn the ire of some users, prompting them to more closely look at alternatives.
In mid-2019 the workflow automation platform lost many of its Gmail integrations. IFTTT blamed changes by Google to its API ecosystem that disabled all Gmail triggers and the "create a draft action" on IFTTT.
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Dec 22, 2020
Google's Chrome OS platform sure has come a long way.
From the early days, when Chrome OS was little more than an experimental "browser in a box," to today — with the platform powering first-class hardware and supporting a diverse range of productivity applications — Google's once-crazy-seeming project has turned into one of the world's most intriguing and rapidly expanding technological forces.
I've been covering Chrome OS closely since the start. I lived with the first Chromebook prototype, the Cr-48, and have used Chromebooks as part of my own personal computing setup in varying capacities ever since. I write about the field not only as someone who's studied it professionally from day 1 but also as someone who has used it personally that entire time, up through today.
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Dec 22, 2020
This has been a challenging year, to say the least. The COVID-19 outbreak has accelerated digital transformation, meaning millions have begun to work from home. What follows is the complete collection of remote working tips, apps and advice I've put together during the year which should be of use in the months to follow.
Setting up for remote work
While many of us began working from home during the crisis, as the novelty wears off, most people are investing in improving their home working environment.
Lessons learned: Provisioning new employees during a pandemic
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