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Microsoft finalizes its custom version of Windows 10 for China

March 23, 2017 Dianne Jacobs

Microsoft’s supremo for China has told state-owned China Daily that Redmond’s ready roll out version of Windows 10 with extra security features demanded by China’s government. “We have already developed the first version of the Windows 10 government secure system. Alain Crozier, CEO of Microsoft Greater China noted that it has been tested by three large enterprise customers. China’s government previously banned Windows 8, citing security concerns, and launched an anti-monopoly probe against Microsoft. They as well cited claims that there may be hidden back doors in the operating system. The…

Microsoft, Adobe build on cloud partnership

March 22, 2017March 22, 2017 Dianne Jacobs

Microsoft & Adobe have announced a new partnership that will see the two companies use and promote each other’s cloud services. The two tech firms are integrating some aspects of their sales and marketing software, building on the cloud-computing partnership. Under the new partnership, Adobe will be using Azure for its Marketing Cloud, Document Cloud, and Creative Cloud services. Microsoft in turn will make Adobe Marketing Cloud its preferred marketing service for customers of its new Dynamics 365 Enterprise edition. Microsoft is investing in its Dynamics suite in a way…

Gmail for Web Can Now Stream Video Attachments

March 17, 2017April 21, 2017

Google is rolling out a quality of life improvement to Gmail desktop users that makes previewing video attachments in Gmail much smoother and quicker. The email client has now introduced a nifty ability to stream video attachments instead of downloading them. This will let you understand what the video is about before deciding on a download, a rather useful feature to save up on the cramped storage space on PCs and laptops. Previously, in order to view a video attachment in Gmail, you would have to download it to your…

YouTube to discontinue video annotations

March 17, 2017 Dianne Jacobs

Annotations Editor was launched in 2008, before the world went mobile. Now YouTube is replacing its annotations engine with what it calls End Screen and Cards, which are existing, mobile-first tools that provide many of the same functions as annotations like linking to other videos and polling viewers. YouTube says it made this change primarily because annotations didn’t work on mobile and most viewers found them obnoxious and unhelpful. The change takes effect on May 2nd, and existing annotations will continue to show up when using the desktop browser version…

Security of IoT Devices to Be Rated for First Time

March 16, 2017September 16, 2019 Dianne Jacobs

IoT standards groups are emerging to address issues of inter operability, communication protocols and security. Consumer Reports will begin considering the cybersecurity and privacy safeguards of products when rating them – a long overdue move perhaps, given Internet of Things device manufacturers have previously been accused of doing the barest minimum to protect consumers. The firm will steadily implement the methodologies across its reviews, starting with test projects evaluating a small number of products. The move follows a surge in cyberattacks which have exploited vulnerabilities in Internet of Things devices such as webcams, routers, digital video…

Samsung Galaxy S8 to Adopt Facial Recognition

March 16, 2017April 21, 2017

When Samsung rolled out the Galaxy Note 7 last year, it introduced a new iris scanning technology designed to bolster device security. However the Galaxy’s note 7 life was short lived. The new Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus will reportedly both include iris scanning functionality. Samsung is planning to add facial recognition technology to its S8 lineup to either complement the iris scanner or replace it altogether. The Galaxy S8 to be unveiled later this month will blend fingerprint, iris and facial detection to verify users accessing mobile services…

WikiLeaks announces tech firm cooperation

March 10, 2017April 21, 2017

The anti-secrecy platform WikiLeaks has said it would work with tech firms to fix security flaws before publishing them. Customers’ trust in firms like Google and Apple has already been eroded by the Snowden leaks. Google, Apple, Microsoft, Samsung and other major tech companies have been faced with new dilemmas by the latest WikiLeaks release. The “Vault 7” dump of CIA files has exposed a number of security breaches in their software, which US intelligence has exploited and kept secret so that it can continue to hack into smartphones, computers,…