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A previously-undisclosed security flaw in an older Windows web server won’t be patched, despite hundreds of thousands of servers still running the outdated software. The vulnerability in Windows Internet Information Services (IIS 6) web server has been remotely exploited since July last year, according to two security researchers at the South China University of Technology, who released a proof-of-concept exploit for the vulnerability on Github this week. […]

In this Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2016, file photo, Terry Myerson, Microsoft’s executive vice president of the Windows and Devices Group, discusses a Windows 10 update at a Microsoft media event in New York. The major update to Microsoft’s Windows 10 system will start reaching consumers and businesses on April 11, 2017. New features in the “Creators Update” include 3-D drawing tools, game-broadcasting capabilities and the ability to […]

Samsung launched its new Galaxy S8 smartphone with a bombastic event in New York, promising a “new beginning” for mobile handset design as well as for the Korean company amid a series of corporate crises. The Galaxy S8’s signature feature is a new “infinity display” which wraps around the edges of the device to give a larger screen in a smaller body. Claiming the biggest design breakthrough […]

In this Friday, March 24, 2017, photo, new Samsung Galaxy S8, left, and Galaxy S8 Plus mobile phones are displayed in New York. The Galaxy S8 features a larger display than its predecessor, the Galaxy S7, and sports a voice assistant intended to rival Siri and Google Assistant. (AP Photo/Richard Drew) Samsung seems to be playing it safe with its first major smartphone since the embarrassing recall […]

It may lack the pen of the resurrected Galaxy Note 7, but the narrower screen of the Galaxy S8 is far from its only mode of input. The S8 marks the debut of Bixby, Samsung’s voice agent designed to compete head on with Alexa, Cortana, Siri and Google Assistant, the last of which is also supported by the S8. I’ve written before about how these voice agents […]

There’s a chance Microsoft is going to lose a lawsuit over unwanted Windows 10 upgrades, the results of which allegedly caused a permanent loss of data on plantiffs‘ computers. This suit, which only amounts to $5 million (so far), could easily turn into a massive class-action suit if Microsoft cannot counter the threat by finding something in its end-user license agreement (EULA) that holds the […]

The United States Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security has removed Chinese telecommunications technology solutions provider ZTE from its trading blacklist following the company pleading guilty to illegally exporting products to Iran. “Upon recommendation by BIS, the company and ZTE Kangxun Telecommunications Ltd will be removed from the Entity List on 29 March 2017 (United States time),” ZTE said in a statement [PDF] to the […]

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Can I make this LED bulb a user interface to my home? Image: Simon Bisson First, a confession. I always wanted one of those internet-connected rabbits. You know the ones: they’d glow yellow if it was sunny, drop an ear if the NASDAQ had conniptions, and make burbling noises when a friend was trying to Skype you and you’d turned off all your speakers. What they were […]

Apple and Facebook are gearing up to challenge start-up Magic Leap and Microsoft’s HoloLens in the race to create a pair of augmented reality glasses that could one day replace the smartphone as consumers’ primary computing device. Apple is stepping up its efforts in AR eyewear, according to people with knowledge of its efforts, while Facebook is also researching the technology that can make what chief executive […]

Advances in artificial intelligence and robotics are heightening concerns about automation replacing a growing number of occupations Are robots coming for your job? Although technology has long affected the labor force, recent advances in artificial intelligence and robotics are heightening concerns about automation replacing a growing number of occupations, including highly skilled or “knowledge-based” jobs. Just a few examples: self-driving technology may eliminate the need for […]

Samsung will seek this week to draw a line under the Galaxy Note 7 smartphone safety scandal with the launch of the South Korean technology company’s latest handset, the Galaxy S8. Released last August, the Note 7 was hastily withdrawn after a series of incidents in which the phones caught fire. Samsung expects the debacle, which dealt a severe blow to its reputation, to have cost the […]

Malwarebytes Contact centers are a weak link in the enterprise and are often “neglected” and forgotten when it comes to enterprise security investments, analysts claim. The contact center used to be the main channel for customers to connect to businesses. As email, social media, and live chat systems have expanded, there are more options for communication — however, picking up the phone and speaking to an agent […]

(Image: file photo) Microsoft has quietly removed a feature on its document sharing site Docs.com that allowed anyone to search through millions of files for sensitive and personal information. Users had complained over the weekend on Twitter that anyone could use the site’s search box to trawl through publicly-accessible documents and files stored on the site, which were clearly meant to remain private. Among the files reviewed […]

Apple’s drawings show an iPhone-like device docking where you usually find a touchpad on a laptop, with its touchscreen facing up to act as the touchpad. Image: Apple A new patent application from Apple shows it toying with the idea of a laptop powered by an iPhone that’s docked face up where the touchpad is normally positioned. The idea that a smartphone is a pocket-sized computer has […]

The slowness of OneDrive that some Linux users experienced has been traced back to a failure in a browser component designed to speed up background processing. Image: Microsoft Microsoft has resolved a bug that made OneDrive and OneDrive for Business slow on Linux machines but not on any other platform, including iOS, Chrome OS, macOS, and Windows. A Microsoft OneDrive spokesman called Edgar has now confirmed that […]

In this Friday, Sept. 16, 2016, file photo, a customer sets up his new iPhone 7 Plus, right, as he switches from the iPhone 6 at the Apple Store on Michigan Avenue during the release of the Apple iPhone 7 and the latest Apple Watches, in Chicago. New documents from WikiLeaks, posted Thursday, March 23, 2017, point to an apparent CIA program to hack Apple’s iPhones and […]

Pressed to explain his lack of concern, Mnuchin said, “It depends on what you think of artificial intelligence.” (Image: CSPAN) Artificial intelligence won’t pose a real threat to American jobs for “50 or 100 more years,” Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin on Friday. special feature How to Automate the Enterprise One of today’s biggest opportunities for IT to make an impact is by automating business processes, manufacturing, repetitive […]

The highest-end Nokia 6 Arte Black is among the phones set for a global rollout. Image: HMD Global HMD Global has confirmed it will launch its Nokia Android handsets to the US and the rest of the world in the second quarter. The company said on its Twitter account today that its new Android handsets and one feature phone will launch worldwide between April and June. The […]

The first quarter of 2017 is almost over and Xbox is keeping the game train going with its free game offering for April. Xbox Live has announced its April Games with Gold featuring four hit games: two Xbox One and two Xbox 360 games playable via backwards compatibility. These games are: Ryse: Son of Rome, Darksiders, Assassin’s Creed: Revelations, and The Walking Dead: Season Two. These limited-time games will […]

At the start of the year, I was part of a panel that aimed to offer career guidance to graduating students at a local secondary school in Singapore. The panel dished out the usual advice about the need to have passion, work hard, and always strive to do better. A student then posed a question that struck a chord: “How can I ensure the skills I learn […]

ZTE Corporation has released its financial results for 2016, reporting full-revenue of 101.2 billion yuan, an increase of 1.04 percent to the 100.18 billion yuan reported in the previous corresponding period. The Chinese telecommunications hardware vendor, which had delayed the release of its 2016 annual report to assess the impact of the Iran sanctions case, admitted it slipped to a net loss of 2.36 billion yuan in […]

Predicting and acting upon financial fraud is one of the prime areas of application of advanced big data techniques like machine learning (ML). Earlier this week, a case of money laundering known as the Laundromat was uncovered by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) involving a number of global banks active in the UK. Could ML help prevent such incidents? What progress is there on […]

This Wednesday, March 22, 2017, photo shows the Google Maps app on a smartphone, in New York. Google is enabling users of its digital mapping service to allow their movements to be tracked by friends and family in the latest test of how much privacy people are willing to sacrifice in an era of rampant sharing. The location-monitoring feature will begin rolling out Wednesday in an update […]

Virtustream announced on Thursday that its enterprise cloud platform is officially available in Australia and New Zealand. The cloud company — which was acquired by EMC in 2015 for $1.2 billion, before the storage giant itself was acquired by Dell for $67 billion in 2016 — said the expansion is a strategic response to customers that are looking to bring their products and services to the ANZ […]

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