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May 24, 2022
Adobe is bringing broader integration of its document management, tracking and validation services into Microsoft's product ecosystem, including tighter connections to Teams and the Purview information protection framework.
At Microsoft's annual Build software conference, Adobe announced a new single sign-on option for Acrobat for Teams, integration with Purview from directly within the desktop version of Acrobat, and Microsoft Power Automation functionality that will allow users to make repetitive tasks with Acrobat Sign easier, among other features.
Adobe also announced unified installation technology for all of the newly released features, meaning that IT staff can deploy them across their organizations with relative simplicity, as well as the achievement of FedRAMP Moderate (a government security standard) certification and Sign Graph connectivity, meaning that checking on signature status for things like sales contracts and onboarding is now faster.
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May 06, 2022
So many employers don't yet see that modern employee experiences demand autonomy and flexibility more than they need presence. It's no surprise that since the pandemic struck, technologists have been busily attempting to build collaborative tools to support the distributed hybrid future of work.
Here's a look at some of the virtual collaboration tools available to companies.
Why these tools are important
Every survey suggests workers are more willing to find a new job than return to the bad old days of presence-based micro-management. Arguments that returning to the workplace boost collaboration may have some weight, but much of this relies on old-fashioned email and virtual meetings held from the office, rather than the home.
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May 03, 2022
The past two years have seen mobility management take on a greater importance than ever in the enterprise. As remote and hybrid work models take hold at many organizations, "mobility management" has expanded its meaning from management of mobile devices to management of all devices used by mobile employees, wherever they happen to be working from.
Unified endpoint management (UEM) has become a strategic technology at the center of companies' efforts to control this increasingly complex environment. Essentially combining enterprise mobility management (EMM) tools with PC management tools, UEM platforms help companies manage and protect a range of devices including smartphones, tablets, laptops, and desktop computers across multiple operating systems — all from a unified interface.
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Apr 28, 2022
The CRM giant is looking to help customers automate workflows and trigger actions across its growing range of applications using Flow.
Flow Actions for Tableau
Finally, Flow Actions will allow Tableau users to launch a new workflow or trigger actions direct from a dashboard when new data is added or a certain threshold is reached.
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Apr 28, 2022
I was surprised at how well it worked. And while it felt a little like the experience we had in the early days of low-res video chats online, somehow the shared intention of the space helped me keep focus.
I'm talking about Flow Club.
What is Flow Club?
People with an interest in office real estate rental have worked hard to convince us that the workplace requires random collaboration at office water coolers. But, what if it doesn't?
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Apr 27, 2022
What if your business tools could help you get things done without getting in the way? That's a question many tech executives ask these days. I spoke with one of them, Boomerang Co-founder and CEO Aye Moah, to get her perspective.
We know the world of work has undergone deep transformation in the last few years. Existing change trends accelerated with COVID-19, which sent people home and also set workers scurrying to identify tech solutions to help them work smarter and better. Boomerang makes some of these.
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Apr 26, 2022
There are thousands of software-as-a-service (SaaS) apps on the market, all competing to be number one in a particular category. Consequently, organizations often have a difficult time selecting the right SaaS apps for their specific needs — and they make mistakes that can cost them time and money.To read this article in full, please click here
(Insider Story)
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Apr 25, 2022
Over the past month, various world governments have stepped up efforts to create their own national digital currencies. The efforts are in response to the growing popularity of private sector decentralized digital currencies, such as Bicoin, that exist without the backing of a central bank or commercial banks.
In recent weeks, US President Joe Biden has issued an executive order to investigate how to regulate cryptocurrencies and speed up research into creating a digital dollar that would be backed by the Federal Reserve Bank and essentially "minted" by the US Treasury. Lawmakers then offered up a bill that would allow the US Treasury to create a digital dollar. And soon after that, the UK ramped up its own efforts to regulate cryptocurrencies and create a non-fungible token backed by the Bank of England.
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Apr 20, 2022
The COVID-19 pandemic did not just disrupt physical meetings and physical office spaces; workflows that relied on in-person interaction, such as signing documents and contracts, were also highly impacted. Electronic signature (e-signature) software has surged in popularity over the past two years as enterprises looked to modify their signature workflows to support a remote workforce, said Holly Muscolino, group vice president for content strategies and future of work at IDC.
With many companies returning to an in-person office environment or adopting a hybrid workforce approach, where employees work some days in the office and some at home, e-signature vendors are working to convince businesses that they are still relevant. Although the market has slowed down, Muscolino said, "it's still showing healthy growth, because there are still companies who have not adopted this technology. There is still significant room for adoption."
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Apr 14, 2022
As the amount of data organizations create continues to mushroom, they're all dealing with the same challenge: how to enable their employees to find the answers they need to do their jobs when the information is hidden in different sources, including email servers, databases, network drives, cloud drives, and countless SaaS apps. When workers can't find the information they need to stay productive, the effectiveness of the entire business suffers.
What organizations need are tools that allow workers to search for information across multiple sources inside the enterprise. Enterprise search software does just that, offering a single application that provides total access to all enterprise content — from HR policies and help desk documents to marketing materials and ongoing project discussions — no matter where it resides.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Apr 07, 2022
Following efforts by the US and others to address cryptocurrency standards, UK officials this week said they want Britain to lead the world and create their own government-backed digital token for international trade.
"We want this country to be a global hub — the very best place in the world to start and scale crypto-companies," said John Glen, MP and UK Economic Secretary to the Treasury.
Glen's comments came during a keynote speech at the Innovate Finance Global Summit during Fintech Week 2022. He also asserted the UK is the leading European financial technology (Fintech) hub, "second only to the US worldwide."
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Apr 01, 2022
Office 365 and Microsoft 365 subscribers get more frequent software updates than those who have purchased Office 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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Mar 31, 2022
Most artificial intelligence (AI) efforts fail. They don't fail because of the tool, the core software, or bad data. They fail because they don't integrate with business and wind up being more of a hindrance than a help.
This isn't just an AI problem; it's true of most forms of automation. Projects fail because the people building the solution have no clue about the actual goal, the nature and dependencies of their current operations, or even whether those operations are optimized. (In some ways that last one suggests an AI failure might be more beneficial - if you have a bad process in place, the last thing you want to do is speed it up!)
To achieve success, you first need to fix the process or operation, fully define it, set forth a set of achievable goals for the AI project and staff, and then execute on it. That's why I'm fascinated by BCG, a consultancy that is increasingly focused on AI; its tactics evolved out of efforts to help companies improve operations with a strategic goal in mind.
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Mar 22, 2022
Each time we experience an Apple iCloud, Spotify, Slack, Verizon, Google, Peloton, or any other form of server-based outage, we're reminded that everyone should have multiple layers of backup to maintain data and work to ensure key services still work when servers go down.
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Mar 22, 2022
Google Sheets is a powerful spreadsheet app that you use through your web browser. It stores your spreadsheets in the cloud with Google Drive. Anyone with a Google account can use Sheets and Drive for free. Both are also part of Google Workspace (formerly G Suite), Google's subscription office suite for business and enterprise customers.
This guide will teach you how to start a new spreadsheet in Sheets or upload one you already have stored on your PC, including a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. It also goes over the basic interface and unique features of Sheets, such as how to share your spreadsheets and collaborate on them with others.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Mar 16, 2022
Slack is updating its iPad app, with a refreshed layout which more closely resembles its desktop experience.
The updates to the iPad app include a refreshed sidebar that keeps channels organized and easy to navigate. Sections are now collapsible, allowing users to hide groups of channels and focus on just the most relevant conversations, while section preferences can be synced with the desktop version, keeping the sidebar consistent when users switch between devices.
Usernames in direct messages now feature avatars, making them easier to scan, and channel activity can now be sorted by recency, so team updates can be reviewed more quickly.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Mar 10, 2022
Global mergers and acquisitions (M&As) last year surpassed pre-pandemic levels and nearly matched the previous record years of 2007 and 2015, according to professional services firm KPMG. This year, they're poised to climb higher.
A KPMG survey of more than 350 US business indicated that mergers are on the rise because of easy access to capital, low interest rates, and a recovering global economy.
KPMG
The number of global mergers and acquisitions could climb higher this year than in 2021.
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Mar 07, 2022
US and European sanctions over the past week and a half have put the screws to the Russian government and its oligarchs who are likely using alternative methods to ferry their cash across borders.
"We do believe it is very likely that Russian companies and nationals are trying to use crypto assets like Bitcoin or the US Dollar-pegged stablecoin, such as Tether (USDT), to circumvent the economic sanctions," said Josh Olszewicz, head of research at Valkyrie Funds, a digital asset investment manager.
Stablecoins are tied to fiat or cash-backed by central banks, while Bitcoin and other non-stablecoin digital currencies derives value from supply and demand and otherwise have no intrinsic value. Non-fungible tokens or NFTs are digital tokens tied to assets other than cash, but those "assets" can also be as valuable as art and real estate or as meaningless as a random photograph or stuffed animal.
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Mar 03, 2022
In the wake of the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, SAP and Oracle have both announced that they are suspending all business operations in Russia.
The decision from the two major IT vendors came in the wake of a request from Ukrainian Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, who posted letters he'd written to both companies on Twitter yesterday.
In his letter to Oracle, Fedorov wrote: "The IT industry always supports values of responsibility and democracy…now, more than ever, people's lives depend on your choice."
Oracle replied to the tweet, stating that on behalf of the people of Ukraine and its elected government, the company has "suspended all operations in the Russian Federation". However, the company has not provided any further comment on the situation since the tweet was posted.
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Mar 02, 2022
Salesforce exceeded all expectations with its fourth quarter 2022 financial results on Tuesday, boasting that its recent acquisition of enterprise messaging platform Slack can help the CRM giant reach $32 billion in revenue next year.
Since its $27.7 billion acquisition of Slack in 2020, Salesforce has continued to benefit financially from the ongoing popularity of the messaging platform. This is a trend that looks set to continue, as organizations across the globe continue to have conversations about facilitating hybrid and remote work models.
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Feb 24, 2022
Volvo has unleashed a big improvement in customer satisfaction after equipping its 1,500 service engineers with an Apple Watch to use during their day. What, on the face of it, seems a small change reflects extensive cultural change across the company, which is actively engaged in digital transformation across its business.
What can an Apple Watch do for car servicing?
Volvo has equipped its engineers (Personal Service Technicians) with an Apple Watch and iPhone (running the Volvo Service app) to help them work more efficiently than before. The company's primary focus is to improve customer service, as it recognizes that technicians are the main point of customer contact across the life of the Volvo they drive.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Feb 23, 2022
Chat-based collaboration software is a must-have in today's business environment, with Slack and Microsoft Teams the two leading options for the enterprise. The stakes couldn't be higher — the pandemic made clear that remote work and collaboration are the future of business.
Slack, which went public back in 2019, was bought by enterprise software giant Salesforce in July 2021 for $27.7 billion. Until the acquisition, it wasn't clear that Slack could survive against behemoth Microsoft, which has a gazillion revenue streams to rely upon and is giving Teams away for free in most Office 365 and Microsoft 365 plans. But now that Slack has sugar daddy Salesforce behind it, with a valuation north of $200 billion and annual income of more than $20 billion, it can better compete.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Jan 24, 2022
Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) are apparently eager to invest in technology to help attract — and keep — finance talent and workers with artificial intelligence (AI) and machine-learning (ML) skills, according to a new survey.
Financial services and human resources software vendor Workday last week released its latest Global CFO Indicator Survey, which indicates that nearly half (48%) of CFOs plan to invest in consumer-like interfaces to attract future finance talent within the next five years — and 57% say they now want AI and ML skills in new hires.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Jan 12, 2022
Android may be Google's highest profile platform, but Chrome OS is 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 Google ecosystem experience.
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Jan 10, 2022
The flood of remote workers at the start of the global pandemic in early 2020 had companies scrambling to find new software for communicating and collaborating with remote workers. Many turned to software-as-a-service (SaaS) options.
Tech Spotlight:
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Jan 06, 2022
The use of artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) has exploded just as managers and executives are adapting to hybrid work environments and struggling to oversee remote employees.
A recent report from research firm IDC predicts that by 2024, 80% of Global 2000 companies will use AI/ML-enabled "Digital Managers" to hire, fire, and train workers in jobs measured by continuous improvement — but only one in five companies will get any real value from the move without human engagement.
The ongoing worldwide COVID-19 pandemic has forced many companies to adopt new work models, ranging from fully remote to "hybrid" approaches where individuals and teams work at or across multiple digital and physical locations.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Jan 05, 2022
Gmail's filled with hidden features and add-on possibilities, but one of the service's most powerful organizational tools is sitting right in the heart of its regular settings.
As you may have guessed by now (especially if you read this story's headline, you clever little cat), I'm talking about filters — Gmail's long-standing system for automating your inbox with a series of custom-crafted rules. At a glance, filters can seem complicated. They can seem overwhelming. They can even seem unnecessary.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Nov 03, 2021
Chromebooks may be all about simplicity, but don't be fooled: Beneath their intuitive outer layer lies a web of advanced options. And you don't have to be a power user to embrace it.
Make your way through this massive collection of next-level tips, and you'll be zipping around Chrome OS like a pro in no time.
Getting around Chrome OS1. The Chrome OS launcher — the drawer-like interface that appears when you tap the Everything key (a.k.a. the Search key or Launcher key) or when you hit the circle icon in the lower-left corner of the screen — is actually a powerful universal search tool. Just start typing as soon as it appears, and you can find and open apps, pull up websites, and even get answers to specific questions right then and there — no clicking or digging required.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Oct 27, 2021
Cisco's Webex One event takes place this week, with the company introducing a much-improved version of Webex for iPad. I wanted to find out more about the Apple/Cisco partnership and the company's thoughts around the emerging hybrid workplace, so I reached out to Jeetu Patel, general manager and executive vice president, Cisco security and collaboration for more information.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Sep 29, 2021
Some people will tell you that social media, chat platforms, and videoconferencing have replaced email as the most important means of communication in the workplace. Don't believe them. Email remains the lifeblood of business and will do so into the foreseeable future.
ContactsTo read this article in full, please click here
(Insider Story)
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Sep 24, 2021
Back in the pre-cloud days, sharing files involved using file transfer protocol applications or else copying files to a disc and then mailing it or walking it over to a colleague (affectionately known as ‘sneakernet'). Emails could also be sent (and many people still use email as their main "file-sharing" option), but size limits on attachments and security concerns discouraged this practice.
Today's world of file sharing offers nearly endless options. Giants like Dropbox, Box, Google, Microsoft, and Apple, as well as smaller companies like MediaFire and Tresorit, all offer online cloud storage options that include file sharing, synchronization across multiple devices, and collaboration features. Once you have uploaded a file to one of these services, file-sharing is as easy as clicking a "share" button and then sending the link to a colleague via email. While most offer desktop and mobile applications, users can also upload, store, sync, and share files via a web browser.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Sep 13, 2021
When Chrome changes, people pay attention — not only because Chrome is the world's most popular browser, but also because its underlying technologies, and the decisions that go into making those technologies, power a host of rivals, notably Microsoft's Edge.
Each Chrome upgrade is accompanied by enterprise-centric release notes that highlight some of the additions, deletions, enhancements, and modifications slated for the future. We've collected the most important for this update of Computerworld's latest what's-coming round-up.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Sep 10, 2021
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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Sep 08, 2021
Smartsheet is a flexible spreadsheet-centric work management tool designed to track team projects. Launched in 2006, it has 9 million users (almost 1 million of them paid users) and is deployed by nearly 100,000 companies, ranging from Google and Netflix to the US General Services Administration.
Its success stems from its ability to appeal to a wide range of business users, specifically project managers, according to Chris Marsh, research director at 451 Research, part of S&P Global Market Intelligence. For Bellevue, Wash.-based Smartsheet, this means combining a familiar spreadsheet format with richer work management and collaboration capabilities.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Sep 08, 2021
Smartsheet is a flexible spreadsheet-centric work management tool designed to track team projects. Launched in 2006, it has 8 million users (almost 1 million of them paid users) and is deployed by nearly 100,000 companies, ranging from Google and Netflix to the US General Services Administration.
Its success stems from its ability to appeal to a wide range of business users, specifically project managers, according to Chris Marsh, research director at 451 Research, part of S&P Global Market Intelligence. For Bellevue, Wash.-based Smartsheet, this means combining a familiar spreadsheet format with richer work management and collaboration capabilities.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Sep 06, 2021
Microsoft's digital assistant Cortana was one of the major additions to Windows 10 when it first came out. But it was launched back in December 2015, and it's changed quite a bit since then. Over the years, it's had new features added, and then others taken away. Depending on which version of Windows you're using, it may be integrated directly into the Windows Search box, or run as an entirely separate app.
No matter which version you use, though, it's a very useful tool and can do a lot for you, including alerting you to upcoming meetings; searching your PC and the web; telling you about the weather, news, and sports; and a lot more. To help you get the most out of Cortana, I've put together some of my favorite tips for using it — including using Cortana to manage your Google Calendar and to send you reminders.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Sep 02, 2021
Private browsing. Incognito. Privacy mode.
Web browser functions like those trace their roots back more than a decade, and the feature — first found in a top browser in 2005 — spread quickly as one copied another, made tweaks and minor improvements.
Protect Your Privacy
Online privacy: Best browsers, settings, and tips
How to protect your privacy in Windows 10
How to stay as private as possible on the Mac
The ultimate guide to privacy on Android
How to stay as private as possible on Apple's iPad and iPhone
But privacy-promising labels can be treacherous. Simply put, going "incognito" is as effective in guarding online privacy as witchcraft is in warding off a common cold.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Sep 02, 2021
Private browsing. Incognito. Privacy mode.
Web browser functions like those trace their roots back more than a decade, and the feature — first found in a top browser in 2005 — spread quickly as one copied another, made tweaks and minor improvements.
Protect Your Privacy
Online privacy: Best browsers, settings, and tips
How to protect your privacy in Windows 10
How to stay as private as possible on the Mac
The ultimate guide to privacy on Android
How to stay as private as possible on Apple's iPad and iPhone
But privacy-promising labels can be treacherous. Simply put, going "incognito" is as effective in guarding online privacy as witchcraft is in warding off a common cold.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Aug 26, 2021
Trello is a collaborative work management app designed to track team projects, highlight tasks underway, shoe who they are assigned to, and detail progress towards completion.
At its core, Trello relies on the principles of Kanban project boards to visualize workflows, providing managers and team members with a simple overview of a project from start to finish.
Trello's key components are boards, lists, and cards.
Boards are the starting point, and typically focus on an over-arching project such as launching a new website, or process-based tasks, such as on-boarding an employee. Within each board, several lists can be created to indicate the progress of a project; "to do," "in progress," and "done" lists are common examples. Individual cards within the lists hold information on a specific task and can be moved from list to list as needed (such as when a task is completed).
To read this article in full, please click here
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Aug 25, 2021
The beauty of Chrome OS today is its versatility: The operating system supports a huge range of applications in a variety of different formats — web apps, progressive web apps, native Chrome OS programs and Chrome browser extensions, Android apps, Linux apps, and sometimes even Windows apps (gracious!).
That's enough to make anyone's head spin. As a result of that platform-defying setup, though, Chromebooks can now handle all sorts of advanced productivity tasks and are viable far beyond their original web-centric focus, when the concept was quite literally just a "browser in a box" — a full-screen Chrome window with no desktop, nothing resembling a traditional app, and next to no options to consider.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Aug 19, 2021
Facebook on Thursday unveiled its vision to make remote meetings more immersive with the introduction of Horizon Workrooms, a virtual reality app for team collaboration. But convincing employees to put on VR headsets for conference meetings — or companies to buy the hardware in the first place — could be a tough sell, say analysts.
Facebook introduced Horizon, its virtual reality social space accessed via Oculus VR headsets, last year, though it remains in private beta. This latest iteration, Horizon Workrooms, is aimed squarely at replicating conference room meetings however, with colleagues represented as animated avatars.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Aug 19, 2021
For enterprise users, one thing that may be significant about the businesses Apple is supporting under the umbrella of its Racial Equity and Justice Initiative is just how many of these organizations are offering business-focused tools for enterprise pros. These businesses, owned by Black and Brown entrepreneurs, have been given support from Apple's Business Accelerator scheme.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Aug 18, 2021
Salesforce has offered up a first glimpse of plans to integrate Slack into its products following the completion of its $27.7 billion acquisition last month.
Salesforce said on Monday that Slack will be integrated into the Customer 360 platform in several ways to help connect sales, marketing, and service staff more effectively — both internally and cross-company.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Aug 16, 2021
Google Docs is a powerful word processor that you use through your web browser. It's integrated with Google Drive to store your documents in the cloud. Anyone with a Google account can use Google Docs for free. It's also available with Google Workspace — Google's subscription-based online collection of office apps that also includes Gmail, Google Slides, Google Sheets, and more. There are Google Docs mobile apps for Android and iOS, too.
Share your documentTo read this article in full, please click here
(Insider Story)
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Aug 12, 2021
With COVID-19 vaccination programs underway, many companies are hoping to reopen their offices in the not-too-distant future. Most are looking to a hybrid work model, where employees split their time between working in the office and working at home. Although office reopenings may be put on hold as cases surge throughout the U.S. and elsewhere, it's not too soon to begin making plans for a safe return for employees.
The office that workers return to will look quite different as companies reconfigure their office space to support safety guidelines around social distancing, cleaning and disinfection, and capacity limits. The concept that an employee has a permanent desk or office goes out the window if that employee only works in the office two to three times a week, or if the number of workers exceeds the number of available workspaces. To manage this, companies are turning desks and cubicles into common workspaces that anyone in the company can reserve for the day.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Aug 02, 2021
Have you ever wondered why wedding planners can charge so much?To read this article in full, please click here
(Insider Story)
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Jul 15, 2021
Microsoft Teams users can now access Dynamics 365 data without the need for licenses for the CRM platform.
Microsoft has already moved in recent months to deepen ties between Dynamics 365 and the team collaboration app; in March, the company added the ability to embed Teams chat into the Dynamics 365 app, while improving access to data from within Teams.
At its Inspire event this week, Microsoft announced that all Teams users will now have access to Dynamics data from within the collaboration app, regardless of whether they have a Dynamics 365 license. Admins will be able to set permission and access rules to restrict access to customer records.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Jun 28, 2021
Fifteen months after the US and Europe went into lockdown for the first time, many office-based employees have still not returned to their pre-pandemic workplaces. During that time, videoconferencing apps have continued to see an unprecedented — and unsurprising — level of popularity. And as conversations about what the workplace of the future might look like gather steam, organizations are increasingly looking to firm up their collaboration technology stack to support a shift to hybrid work.
Since we first reviewed the major videoconferencing platforms last year, Zoom has posted its 2021 first quarter total revenue at $956.2 million, up 191% year over year; Microsoft Teams has 145 million daily active users, up from 75 million last year; and Cisco Webex has rolled out more than 400 new capabilities since September.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Jun 15, 2021
The push toward unified endpoint management (UEM), a technology strategy that emerged a few years ago and became especially vital during the COVID-19 pandemic and shift to remote work, will likely play a major role in the coming months. Many workers have begun returning to their employers' offices at least part of the time, and a new, hybrid work model is emerging post-pandemic.
2020: In a pandemic, UEM to the rescue2019: Dawning of the age of UEM2018: UEM is the next step2017: EMM suites go beyond MDM, add sophisticated capabilities2016: Mobile management takes on apps, content2015: Mobile device management broadensTo read this article in full, please click here
(Insider Story)
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Jun 08, 2021
Warning: If you're still using your inbox in its out-of-the-box state, you're almost certainly missing out on some promising possibilities.
Gmail has the potential to be a finely tuned, thoroughly polished framework for email-handling efficiency. The service is practically overflowing with helpful features and interface-enhancing opportunities. But by default, many of its best options and arrangements aren't activated or available — or always even easy to find.
It doesn't take much to change that, though — and to turn Gmail from a mess of untapped potential into a thoughtfully refined home for your business email needs. Check out my in-depth business user's guide to Gmail for a complete overview of how the service works and then browse through the more specific sets of tips below for even more advanced knowledge.
To read this article in full, please click here
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May 19, 2021
Microsoft recently announced the availability of Windows 10 version 21H1, known as the May 2021 Update. Breaking with the major-minor cadence established for Windows 10 feature updates over the past few years, with a major release in the spring and a minor one in the fall, the May 2021 Update offers only a handful of minor changes.
Windows 10 November 2019 Update (version 1909)Windows 10 October 2018 Update (version 1809)Windows 10 April 2018 Update (version 1803)Windows 10 Fall Creators Update (version 1709)To read this article in full, please click here
(Insider Story)
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Apr 19, 2021
Keeping employees connected and working productively has become the glue holding many businesses together during the COVID-19 pandemic. And with social distancing ruling out face-to-face meetings anytime soon, the need for new digital tools to help teams collaborate better has soared.To read this article in full, please click here
(Insider Story)
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Mar 24, 2021
You may think of Google Drive mostly as a cloud storage service, but it also includes a suite of online office apps: Google Docs (word processor), Google Sheets (spreadsheet app), and Google Slides (presentation app). You can use them to collaborate with colleagues on a document, spreadsheet, or presentation in real time or asynchronously. These apps can also be used to import, export, and natively edit Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint and Word documents.
How to collaborate on a documentTo read this article in full, please click here
(Insider Story)
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Mar 17, 2021
Microsoft Tuesday issued instructions and a one-click tool to small businesses with on-premises Exchange servers to patch the vulnerability first disclosed by the company March 2, and which criminals have been using to spy on victims' communications as well as gain access to other parts of their networks.
"We realized that there was a need for a simple, easy to use, automated solution that would meet the needs of customers using both current and out-of-support versions of on-premises Exchange Server," Microsoft said in a post to a company blog attributed to the MSRC (Microsoft Security Research Center) Team.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Mar 15, 2021
Ever need to access a computer remotely? It's easy to do in Windows 10, but Microsoft has provided a few different ways to get there.To read this article in full, please click here
(Insider Story)
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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.
To read this article in full, please click here
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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.
To read this article in full, please click here
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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.
To read this article in full, please click here
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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.
To read this article in full, please click here
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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.
To read this article in full, please click here
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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.
To read this article in full, please click here
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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.
To read this article in full, please click here
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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.
To read this article in full, please click here
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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.
To read this article in full, please click here
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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
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.
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 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."
To read this article in full, please click here
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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.
To read this article in full, please click here
(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.
To read this article in full, please click here
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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.
To read this article in full, please click here
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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."
To read this article in full, please click here
(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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