Announcement100 articles, 2016-03-01 12:01

(2.00/3)

1 Samsung wins the latest round in Apple patent battleIn 2014, a San Jose federal court issued a verdict that ordered Samsung to pay Apple$119.6 million for infringing three of Cupertino's patents. Samsung appealed that decision,and today, a U. S. appeals court overturned the ruling. The full text of the decision isavailable here. The federal court... 2016-03-01 11:10 1KB techreport.com

(2.00/3)

2 The HTC Vive is now available for pre-orderHTC's Vive VR headset is now available for pre-order. The $799 kit includes the Vive itself,two hand controllers, and the two base stations you'll need to set up the Vive's virtualenvironment. HTC is bundling Google's Tilt Brush app , Fantastic Contraption , and JobSimulator with the Vive... 2016-03-01 11:10 1KB techreport.com

(2.00/3)

3 Best mobile games of February 2016Looking for a new game to play on your mobile device? Here's our pick of the bestreleased in February 2016. 2016-03-01 09:52 641Bytes www.cnet.com

(2.00/3)

4 Telstra offers 200GB free Microsoft OneDrive storageMobile and home broadband customers will gain access to 200GB of Microsoft cloudstorage under a new offering from Telstra. 2016-03-01 05:34 3KB www.zdnet.com

(2.00/3)

5 HTC Vive VR headset costs a whopping £689 in the UKBut mo' money, mo' virtual reality 2016-03-01 06:21 2KB www.theinquirer.net

6 The State of Application Delivery: 2016 ReportBecause we rely on them so heavily, applications must be available when we need them,able to respond within a split second 2016-03-01 12:00 1KB www.itworldcanada.com

7 Addressing Advanced Web Threats: Protect Your Data andBrandSome of the most sophisticated web-based threats are design to hide in plain sight onlegitimate and well-trafficked websites. Once an organization’s 2016-03-01 12:01 928Byteswww.itworldcanada.com

8 The Manitoba ConnectionManitoba Hydro Telecom (MHT) is a facilities-based carrier class telecom service provider,offering a suite of wholesale products to carriers, wireless operators, private and2016-03-01 12:01 860Bytes www.itworldcanada.com

9 RSA 2016: Women speak out on the trials and joys of infoseccareersSAN FRANCISCO -- Kerry Matre is one of the few women who have risen to seniorpositions in IT security. As a 2016-03-01 11:51 5KB www.itworldcanada.com

10 Wooting One keyboard can act like an analog controllerWooting is a name you may not be immediately familiar with, but the fledgling company islooking to make a splash in the keyboard arena. The company has announced theWooting One , a tenkeyless board targeted at the gaming market. This board has one twistthat regular gaming keyboards... 2016-03-01 11:10 2KB techreport.com

11 Raspberry Pi 3 gets built-in Wi-Fi and 64-bit support at $35Today marks the fourth birthday of the original Raspberry Pi tiny computer. To celebrate,the Raspberry Pi Foundation has released the Raspberry Pi 3 , its third-generation model.With this iteration, the Raspberry Pi gets a delicious spec boost while holding on to theprior model's $35 price point. Perhaps... 2016-03-01 11:27 2KB techreport.com

12 Apple moves to vacate court order requiring it to unlock aniPhoneLike many in the software world, we've been closely following Apple's dispute with theUnited States government. Apple has been cooperating with the investigation into the 2015 terrorist attack in San Bernardino, California until now, but the company recentlyended up facing an order that it felt was unreasonable: to... 2016-03-01 11:10 5KBtechreport.com

13 Samsung's latest curved monitors do FreeSync over HDMISome of the best things in life have the right curves, like cars and guitars. Samsung islooking to add monitors to that list, as it's just unveiled a trio of 1080p curved displays.Meet the 27" CF591 and the CF390 series, available in 23.5" and 27" sizes. SamsungCF591... 2016-03-01 11:10 2KB techreport.com

14 In the lab: a case, cooler, and power supply from be quiet!TR has covered news of various products from be quiet! for some time now, and I'mpleased to welcome a raft of the company's hardware into our labs for testing. Thecompany sent us its Silent Base 800 case , its Dark Rock Pro 3 CPU cooler , and its...2016-02-29 21:19 2KB techreport.com

15 HDR's TV potential will still be compromised for years tocomeSDR is holding back the content creators. 2016-03-01 08:10 3KB www.techradar.com

16 Thecus N5810PRO NAS ReviewWe test a five-bay NAS from Thecus 2016-03-01 08:00 12KB www.maximumpc.com

17 Apple fights FBI iPhone encryption demands with Microsoftand Facebook supportTech trio prefers freedom of speech to Big Brother government 2016-03-01 09:52 2KBwww.theinquirer.net

18 Hive users in some locations are being slowly bakedSoftware fault sends temperatures to 32c 2016-03-01 09:52 2KB www.theinquirer.net

19 Bomgar launches password vault to add to cloudless secureaccess system10,000 customers, 10,000 Bomgars 2016-03-01 09:52 3KB www.theinquirer.net

20 Bing, Google make predictions about Super Tuesday'swinnersThe biggest day so far in the US presidential primary race hits Tuesday, and the data fromtop search engines point to big wins for two of the candidates. 2016-03-01 05:48 1KBwww.cnet.com

21 WhatsApp to withdraw support for Nokia and Blackberrydevices by end of 2016As we start this new month, we're afraid to say that for those that are using WhatsAppon BlackBerry 10, Nokia S40, Nokia Symbian S60, Android 2.1 and Android 2.2, WindowsPhone 7.1, WhatsApp plans to withdraw their support for the mentioned devices by theend of 2016. Last month (Feb 26),... 2016-03-01 07:30 2KB pctechmag.com

22 HTC Vive Steam-rolls through 15,000 sales in 10 minutesCost be damned! 2016-03-01 06:25 1KB www.techradar.com

23 Indian budget to boost startup ecosystemIndia's newly presented budget offers tax holiday for three years and exemption on capitalgains, but gives no word on exit policy. 2016-03-01 06:13 6KB www.zdnet.com

24 Android Pay will hit the UK in MarchHey, hey there’s a new way to pay 2016-03-01 04:53 2KB www.theinquirer.net

25 Teenaged boy wins technology STEM competition for girlsBoys can be pretty curious too 2016-03-01 04:53 2KB www.theinquirer.net

26 What you missed in tech last week: Galaxy S7, Intel 5G,Windows 10 UpdategateThe top 10 stories from the past seven days 2016-03-01 04:53 2KB www.theinquirer.net

27 The 2016 Data Center 100Broken into five categories, the annual Data Center 100 highlights the providers thatrepresent their respective fields with a combination of innovation, market share, marketpresence, buzz, technology capabilities and channel capabilities. 2016-03-01 04:03 2KBwww.crn.com

28 iOS 9.3 update fixes iPhones borked by date change bugLatest beta release will also prevent problem happening again 2016-03-01 07:33 2KBwww.theinquirer.net

29 Event: Uganda Social Media AwardsThe 3rd Annual Social Media Awards (SMA) is here again. The Uganda SMA honors thebest of social media, recognizing the people and organizations from the likes of; Topowa,Share a coke, The Pearl Guide, MTN Uganda, URA, Katoto and so much more fromdifferent categories, who are producing real-time short form content across Twitter,...2016-03-01 05:45 6KB pctechmag.com

30 Microsoft trashes plans to bring Android apps to Windows 10Firm pulls the plug on Project Astoria 2016-03-01 07:33 2KB www.theinquirer.net

31 Ofcom holds back from ordering BT Openreach break-up buttells firm to share network with rivalsCompetitors to be given access to BT's poles and ducts to roll out their own fibre2016-03-01 07:33 5KB www.theinquirer.net

32 US authorities used students to hack into TorCourt confirms that Department of Defence funded Carnegie Mellon 2016-03-01 07:33 3KBwww.theinquirer.net

33 Google Updates: AMPed up, F.luxed up and Project AstoriacannedThere'll be no Android on Windows 10 2016-03-01 07:33 2KB www.theinquirer.net

34 Security Think Tank: Human factor key to access controlIn the modern business environment, what are the most common access control mistakesand how best are these corrected? 2016-03-01 07:33 2KB www.computerweekly.com

35 Apple reportedly shifts iPhone 5SE and iPad Pro Miniunveiling to 21 MarchJust one day before FBI showdown 2016-03-01 07:33 2KB www.theinquirer.net

36 HP Inc accelerates job cuts as Windows 10 and Skylakecause slump in earningsCuts will be three times as quick 2016-03-01 07:33 2KB www.theinquirer.net

37 Google's self-driving car in prang after assuming priorityover a busFenders got bendered, no injuries reported 2016-03-01 07:33 2KB www.theinquirer.net

38 Updategate: Microsoft forces Windows 10 Insiders to leavefeedback regularlyBeg, doggy, beg 2016-03-01 07:33 2KB www.theinquirer.net

39 Twitter, Internet react after Leonardo DiCaprio finally winsOscarsAs Hollywood gathered for the 88th Academy Awards to honour the past year offilmmaking, no one saw this coming, “Leonardo DiCaprio” wins an OSCAR Award after fiveprevious unsuccessful nominations from his role in “The Revenant.” Mail Online reportsthat, the emotional 41-year-old star led the winners at the... 2016-03-01 05:00 2KBpctechmag.com

40 Kaspersky Labs rolls out targeted threat detection platformfor enterprisesThe platform monitors and analyzes data collected from different points of the corporate ITinfrastructure, including network activity from web and email. 2016-03-01 05:00 2KBwww.zdnet.com

41 The business processes behind services managementWe take a look at the essential steps an organisation must take to multi-source or bring in-house IT services 2016-03-01 06:21 1KB www.computerweekly.com

42 DDoS attack threat cannot be ignoredCriminal activity has become the top motivation for distributed denial of service attacks asthe average attack become strong enough to down most businesses – so taking no actionis not an option. 2016-03-01 06:21 2KB www.computerweekly.com

43 Sparks of creativity as energy and digital futures collideDigital technologies consume way too much energy and present an environmental andsustainability issue that demands a fresh design approach 2016-03-01 06:21 2KBwww.computerweekly.com

44 Updategate: Microsoft splashes Tomb Raider ad overWindows 10 lock screensReality bytes 2016-03-01 06:21 2KB www.theinquirer.net

45 Apple takes steps so El Capitan doesn't look like a dick inpublicWe tried to post a dinkle joke here but we couldn't get it up 2016-03-01 05:14 2KBwww.theinquirer.net

46 iPhone 5SE price, release date, specs and rumoursApple's 4in smartphone tipped to go on sale on 18 March 2016-03-01 03:22 3KBwww.theinquirer.net

47 Apple tipped to launch 9.7in iPad Pro alongside iPhone 5SEnext monthRIP iPad Air 3 2016-03-01 03:22 2KB www.theinquirer.net

48 Presto reviewCan Presto make the magic happen? 2016-03-01 04:30 10KB www.techradar.com

49 Nissan Leaf cars are susceptible to hackingElectric car drivers get a shock 2016-03-01 03:22 3KB www.theinquirer.net

50 Yahoo donates CaffeOnSpark deep learning software toopen sourceMy friend Flickr 2016-03-01 05:14 2KB www.theinquirer.net

51 Microsoft releases updated Windows 10 preview builds fordesktop and mobile usersThe countdown to Redstone continues 2016-03-01 05:14 3KB www.theinquirer.net

52 Raspberry Pi 3: 50 percent more power, 100 percent samepriceLatest model adds WiFi, Bluetooth and a 64-bit chip 2016-03-01 05:14 2KB www.theinquirer.net

53 Microsoft looks to increase iOS and Android foothold withXamarin purchase. NET + Microsoft = chest burster 2016-03-01 03:17 2KB www.theinquirer.net

54 Tim Cook compares iPhone unlocking to cancerHe's confusing security with rhythm and dancing 2016-03-01 03:17 2KB www.theinquirer.net

55 Say goodbye to Sony's PlayStation TV microconsoleSony stopped shipping the not-so-popular PlayStation TV to the US and Europe at the endof 2015, but it will continue being sold in Asia markets for now. 2016-03-01 05:14 878Byteswww.cnet.com

56 Here's Why Some Partners Think Cisco Should AcquireHyper-Converged Startup Springpath Instead Of Partnering WithItCisco Systems is said to be working on a hyper-converged infrastructure appliance usingtechnology from a partnership with startup Springpath, but some partners think anacquisition would be better. 2016-03-01 05:12 3KB www.crn.com

57 Dell SonicWall Launches Advanced Threat ProtectionSubscription Service At RSA 2016Dell SonicWall is diving into the advanced threat protection market, debuting its DellSonicWall Capture Advanced Threat Protection Service at the RSA Conference in SanFrancisco. 2016-03-01 06:21 3KB www.crn.com

58 Check Point Software Technologies Revamps EntirePlatform Under Single Management ConsoleCheck Point Software Technologies announced at the 2016 RSA Conference that it hadrevamped its entire platform to be managed under a single console, a move it says willhelp partners simplify security management. 2016-03-01 05:12 2KB www.crn.com

59 5 Companies That Had A Rough WeekFor the week ending Feb. 26, CRN looks at IT companies that were unfortunate,unsuccessful or just didn't make good decisions. 2016-03-01 06:21 1KB www.crn.com

60 Salesforce Debuts Health Cloud, A Solution For ManagingPatient RelationshipsThe industry finally realizes 'the patient is the customer,' driving more effective and smartertreatment, says one channel partner. 2016-03-01 06:21 2KB www.crn.com

61 Exclusive: HPE-Fortinet Bundle To Marry Firewall, LogManagement CapabilitiesHewlett Packard Enterprise and Fortinet have teamed up on a security offering designedto give customers better visibility into and control over security threats. 2016-03-01 05:12 3KBwww.crn.com

62 Apple scores iPhone legal victory that may help in FBI fightA judge's ruling in a trial in New York may give Apple ammunition in its fight against the FBIto keep a security "back door" out of your iPhone. 2016-03-01 05:14 3KB www.cnet.com

63 Bay Dynamics Launches New Partner Program At RSA ToHelp Channel Combat Insider ThreatsBay Dynamics is getting back to its channel roots at this year's RSA Conference, launchingpartner program Monday that will help its channel partners better address the insiderthreat challenge. 2016-03-01 06:21 3KB www.crn.com

64 Microsoft ads imply Windows 10 computers do more thanMacsTechnically Incorrect: A new series of commercials depicts Macs as simply inferior when itcomes to being productive. 2016-03-01 02:50 1KB www.cnet.com

65 Hololens, HTC Vive taking preorders while Sony hints at VRgloveThe first wave of reality-altering headgear is about to arrive. Microsoft invites developersto preorder the Hololens, but anyone can order the HTC Vive now for arrival April 5.Meanwhile, we look at a Sony patent for a glove to be used with virtual reality.2016-03-01 05:14 972Bytes www.cnet.com

66 Samsung to start S7 leasing programFollowing in the footsteps of arch-rival Apple, Samsung will launch an upgrade program forthe Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge when released on March 11. 2016-03-01 03:47 1KBwww.zdnet.com

67 HoloLens developer edition features Skype, games,HoloStudio builder (Tomorrow Daily)The cost and features of Microsoft's HoloLens developer edition; plus, a quick look atSony's new Huis e-ink universal remote. 2016-03-01 02:34 1KB www.cnet.com

68 Australia Post to capitalise on Data61's digital expertiseAustralia Post has announced a partnership with Data61 as part of its strategy to becomean ecommerce and e-government organisation. 2016-03-01 03:31 4KB www.zdnet.com

69 Google ANZ MD Maile Carnegie switches to ANZ BankMaile Carnegie has been appointed as ANZ group executive digital banking, and will leadthe development and delivery of the bank's digital experience including digital projects andrelationships with the fintech sector. 2016-03-01 01:55 5KB www.zdnet.com

70 Microsoft HoloLens: $3000 devkit seems stupidly expensive[u2]Microsoft HoloLens is ready, almost, at least for developers approved by Redmond. Ifyou’re in Canada or the U. S., then you may plonk down a trifling three big ones for the(ahem) holographic devkit... 2016-03-01 01:38 1KB www.computerworld.com

71 Bomgar unlocks The Vault at RSA Conference 2016Security firm launches new password management system in San Francisco2016-03-01 00:00 2KB www.itpro.co.uk

72 Nasdaq helps ASX with post-trade technology upgradeThe Australian Securities Exchange will use Nasdaq's Genium INET platform to replace itsexisting equity options clearing technology platforms. 2016-02-29 23:53 4KB www.zdnet.com

73 IoP... the Internet of PossibilitiesThe Internet of Things (IoT) is fast becoming one of the most hyped terms in technology,and for good reason. I believe IoT will transform our lives and the lives of our customers inways we can't even imagine. 2016-02-29 23:32 3KB www.zdnet.com

74 Optus denies plans to cut 1,000 jobs to fund EPL dealThe telco has refuted reports that 1,000 jobs are on the chopping block, but conceded itwould change its 'organisational structure' in future as it continually reviews operations.2016-02-29 23:12 3KB www.zdnet.com

75 Nvidia pairs with Monash University for GPU-acceleratedresearchTechnology giant Nvidia has announced a research and development collaboration withMelbourne's Monash University to advance Australia's GPU-accelerated research andinnovation. 2016-02-29 22:51 5KB www.zdnet.com

76 Google adds more data loss prevention tools to Google AtWorkOptical character recognition for images and more refined policies and settings will beadded to Google At Work's DLP tools. 2016-02-29 22:00 994Bytes www.zdnet.com

77 Square Cash now lets users store funds in a digital 'CashDrawer'The optional money storage feature puts Square Cash in the same vein as PayPal andother digital wallets, but it also adds a useful component for small businesses using theCash Pro service. 2016-02-29 21:50 2KB www.zdnet.com

78 US report confirms Ukraine power outage caused bycyberattackA Homeland Security unit said the cyberattack was "synchronized and coordinated," andwas likely carried out "following extensive reconnaissance of the victim networks. "2016-02-29 21:46 2KB www.zdnet.com

79 Worst tech mergers and acquisitions: Cisco and Linksys;Apple and Lala.comA corporate merger, like a marriage, can yield a whole stronger than its parts -- or it canend in utter disaster. We countdown the worst corporate romances in IT history.2016-02-29 21:02 3KB www.zdnet.com

80 Inbox by Gmail adds updated Snooze featuresUsers may now choose to push emails away until 'Later this week' and 'This weekend.'2016-02-29 20:30 1KB www.zdnet.com

81 Overclockers UK launches VR Ready systemsOverclockers UK launches VR Ready systems. A trio of new PCs specifically designed forHTC Vive and Oculus Rift 2016-02-29 19:25 3KB www.bit-tech.net

82 You'll be able to see what HoloLens is seeing on a phone orPCShare how you're viewing the world in AR 2016-02-29 19:00 1KB www.techradar.com

83 Microsoft prices HoloLens Development EditionMicrosoft prices HoloLens Development Edition. $3,000, including demo software.2016-02-29 18:55 2KB www.bit-tech.net

84 Pebble Time Round reviewThe best-looking Pebble yet, but at a cost in terms of functionality 2016-02-29 17:37 5KBwww.techradar.com

85 iPad Air 3 release date, UK price & features rumours: iPadAir 3 tipped for 21 March unveiling with super-fast A9X processorWe explore all of the latest rumours about the iPad Air 3, which is tipped to arrivealongside a new iPhone and Apple Watch on 21 March. 2016-02-29 17:27 5KBwww.pcadvisor.co.uk

86 HTC Vive Pre VR headset release date, UK pricing, specsand games: HTC Vive Pre UK pricing officially announced, pre-orders now openVirtual reality is set to be the next big thing, and the upcoming HTC Vive doesn'tdisappoint. Here, we document the latest rumours regarding the HTC Vive Pre, its pricing,release date, spec and even the games you'll be able to play with it. 2016-02-29 17:25 8KBwww.pcadvisor.co.uk

87 How to learn to code in 2016: everything you need to knowto start programming (including apps) right nowIf you want to learn to code, we explain which languages you should learn and how to startprogramming and creating your own apps, websites and more 2016-02-29 17:24 13KBwww.pcadvisor.co.uk

88 Sony Xperia Z6 release date, news and rumorsThis just in: we may never get it 2016-02-29 17:03 4KB www.techradar.com

89 Best Samsung Galaxy S7 deals: Where to buy Galaxy S7 &Galaxy S7 Edge – UK pre-orders & a free Gear VRThe Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge are available to pre-order in the UK right now. Here are thebest S7 deals & where to get a free Gear VR. 2016-02-29 17:01 4KB www.pcadvisor.co.uk

90 Best web browser 2016: Chrome vs Firefox vs Edge vsSafari vs IE and morePCs, laptops, phones and tablets all come with a web browser. But is it the best one youcan get? We look at Internet Explorer, Edge, Chrome, Firefox, Safari and other browsers.2016-02-29 16:59 3KB www.pcadvisor.co.uk

91 IBM buys Resilient Systems, aims to offer response'playbooks' to security incidentsResilient brings a platform to orchestrate and automate responses to security incidents.IBM will integrate it across its security portfolio. 2016-02-29 16:57 1KB www.zdnet.com

92 Surveillence outfit Hacking Team may have released a newpiece of OS X malwareSecurity researchers say they've analyzed a new piece of OS X malware likely linked toHacking Team, the controversial Italian company that sells surveillance software togovernments. 2016-02-29 16:55 2KB www.itnews.com

93 Apple Watch 2 UK release date, feature and specificationrumours: Apple March event 'pushed back by a week'The Apple Watch is great but Apple Watch 2 will be better. Here are some of the featureswe hope to see, plus Apple Watch 2 UK release date rumours. 2016-02-29 16:38 11KBwww.pcadvisor.co.uk

94 Brazilian science and tech ministry shrinks to cope withrecessionThe department is considering a reduction of its workforce as budgets get smaller2016-02-29 16:34 765Bytes www.zdnet.com

95 In scathing ruling, judge says Apple can't be forced tounlock iPhonesThe government's legal position would lead to 'absurd' results and be unconstitutional ifaccepted, a federal judge rules 2016-02-29 16:33 5KB www.infoworld.com

96 Asus Chromebit CS10 review: The ChromeOS device thatcan transform any TV into something truly smartIf you have an spare screen or Bluetooth peripherals lying around, then the newChromebit by Asus could transform them into a fully fledged computer. 2016-02-29 16:22 6KBwww.pcadvisor.co.uk

97 Best power banks 2016: What's the best power bank? The 20best power banks, portable chargers & emergency chargers youcan buy in the UK today - best power bank reviewsPhones get faster every year, but battery life doesn't seem to get any better. If you need tokeep your smartphone - or tablet or other USB-powered device - going all day, you need apower bank. We've rounded up the 20 best portable chargers available in the UK in...2016-02-29 16:21 15KB www.pcadvisor.co.uk

98 RavPower Turbo+ 20100mAh External Battery Pack review:The fastest power bank you can buy, and an awesomecompanion for the LG G5The RavPower Turbo+ 20100mAh External Battery Pack is currently the fastest powerbank you can buy, and an awesome companion for the LG G5 and other 2016 devicesthat support Quick Charge 3.0 and USB-C. 2016-02-29 16:18 5KB www.pcadvisor.co.uk

99 Samsung Galaxy S7 vs Nexus 6P comparison review: Whichflagship Android phone is better?The Google Nexus 6P was one of the best phones of 2015, but can it compete with theGalaxy S7? We compare the two phones and explain how they differ. 2016-02-29 16:07 7KBwww.pcadvisor.co.uk

100 Computerworld UK Daily Digest - 29 February 2016 - IBMand the blockchain - 21 best business laptops - Growth hackingtipsWelcome to today's Computerworld UK Daily Digests. We explore IBM and the blockchain,the top laptops out there for enterprise power users and growth hacking tips 2016. Plus:the latest tech share prices. 2016-02-29 16:00 894Bytes www.computerworlduk.com

Articles100 articles, 2016-03-01 12:01

1 Samsung wins the latest round in Apple patent battle (2.00/3)

In 2014, a San Jose federal court issued a verdict that ordered Samsung topay Apple $119.6 million for infringing three of Cupertino's patents. Samsungappealed that decision, and today, a U. S. appeals court overturned the ruling. The full text of thedecision is available here.

The federal court had awarded Apple $98.7 million for infringement of a patent that "coverssoftware to detect 'structures', such as a phone number, in text and to turn those structures intolinks. " The appeals court ruled that "Apple failed to prove... that the accused Samsung productsuse an 'analyzer server' as we previously construed that term," and that Samsung therefore didnot infringe the patent.

The other two patents in dispute—one that covers the iPhone's slide-to-unlock feature, andanother that describes auto-correct software that automatically fixes typing errors on a phone—were both ruled invalid by the appeals court due to prior art.

The two mobility giants have been sparring over patents for some time now. A separate disputebetween the two companies culminated in Samsung forking over $548 million in damages toApple last December.2016-03-01 11:10 by Morgan

2 The HTC Vive is now available for pre-order (2.00/3)

HTC's Vive VR headset is now available for pre-order. The $799 kit includes the Vive itself, twohand controllers, and the two base stations you'llneed to set up the Vive's virtual environment.HTC is bundling Google's Tilt Brush app ,Fantastic Contraption , and Job Simulator withthe Vive to give owners a jumping-off point. Ifyou're not in the USA, HTC has also published alist of international prices for the pre-orderbundle.

We've pre-ordered a Vive for review, and HTC'sonline store suggests that our unit will ship sometime in April. Others aren't having such an easytime of things , though. HTC suggests buyers should refresh the Vive's store page if they get an"out of stock" message, though Twitter users have reported problems completing orders withinternational shipping addresses, too. If you ordered a Vive this morning, let us know how it wentin the comments.2016-03-01 11:10 by Jeff

3 Best mobile games of February 2016 (2.00/3)

$16,000 used SUVs

Whether you like your SUVs cute or capable, or some blend of the two, we've got a wide varietyof choices in Roadshow's first collection of Editors' Used Picks.2016-03-01 09:52 Michelle Starr

4

4 Telstra offers 200GB freeMicrosoft OneDrive storage

(2.00/3)

Telstra is giving its consumer mobile and fixedbroadband customers a free two-year 200GBMicrosoft OneDrive storage subscription.

A blog post by Kevin Teoh, Telstra director ofMass Market Mobility, labelled it "the largest amount of free file storage available on anyAustralian network".

Telstra customers wanting to take advantage of the offer can redeem their subscription offerthrough their account on the Telstra website or the 24x7 app.

OneDrive, which is compatible with iOS, Android, PC, and Mac smartphones, tablets, andcomputers, faced criticism late last year when Microsoft reneged on its promise to give freeunlimited storage to OneDrive consumer and OneDrive business customers.

Microsoft attempted to make up for backing out of this offering by instead allowing all Office 365Home, Personal, and University users subscribed to more than 1TB of storage to keep theirhigher storage amounts for one year .

However, last month, OneDrive and Office 365 users began complaining that their storage limitshad in fact been capped at 1TB. Microsoft called it an accident.

"Some OneDrive customers may have been prematurely migrated to a 1TB storage plan,"Microsoft said in its official statement.

"Data stored with OneDrive remains secure during this process, and we're working hard torevert those users back to their original plan as soon as possible. All Office 365 users with over1TB of storage will be able to keep that storage limit for at least one year as previouslyannounced.

"Please stay tuned to the OneDrive blog for future storage plan updates. "

Microsoft remedied the issue and restored the higher storage quotas on February 9.

The burgeoning use of cloud services with large volumes of storage is partially due to thosepartaking in shadow IT : Employees bringing technology products and services into a businessand using them without the formal approval of the IT department.

"If the IT group can't provide them the immediate access they desire, they simply pull out a creditcard and go to a public cloud provider instead," CEO of CloudBolt Software Jon Mittelhauserexplained in October.

"Public cloud and SaaS providers have made access to their services simple, quick, and easy."

Shadow IT, which arose as a result of the widespread bring-your-own-device (BYOD) trend, hasthe potential of risking a business' privacy and security, with a Cisco report showing that the

usage of unauthorised cloud services is pervasive.

"IT departments estimate their companies are using an average of 51 cloud services, when thereality is that 730 cloud services are being used," the report said.

A Cloud Security Alliance survey from last January reported that 72 percent of respondents didnot know the amount of shadow IT apps being used within their business.

On the other hand, a Canvas survey published in February showed that shadow cloud andmobile apps are actually delivering material benefits to businesses.

Canvas surveyed 400 executives, finding that "organisations increasingly view shadow IT as anopportunity to drive workforce innovation and cost management".

Allowing workers to choose their own business apps and software encourages an innovativeenvironment, as well as generating cost savings and improving business productivity, the surveyadded.

"The ability of mobile apps to rapidly improve the bottom line and boost top-line performance ischanging perspectives on shadow IT," the survey said.2016-03-01 05:34 Corinne Reichert

5 HTC Vive VR headset costs a whopping £689 in the UK

(2.00/3)

YOU WILL NEED deep pockets before you can getyour hands on the HTC Vive virtual reality (VR)headset as it will cost a hefty £689 in the UK.

Buyers will be able to order the Vive at 3pm todayahead of an official retail release on 5 April. Thepackage comprises the headset, two wand-likecontrollers, external sensors to map movements andlocations as you skip around a virtual world, and threeVR games: Google’s Tilt Brush , Job Simulator: The2050 Archives and Fantastic Contraption.

We’ve had a go with the first two games and reckon they're a good introduction to movingaround in VR, but they don’t offer a superlative experience and early VR adopters might have towait a little until some bigger games are made for the Vive.

HTC worked with PC games firm Valve to create the Vive. The system runs Valve’s SteamVRoperating system, so we can expect some big hitting VR games in the not too distant future.

The other problem price-wise is that you’ll probably need to fork out the same again on agaming-grade PC or laptop to power the Vive unless you have one already. That puts the cost ofthe Vive up there with a pretty powerful PC gaming set up, which arguably has more to offer interms of games than VR in its current form.

You’ll also need a bit of free space to get the most out of the Vive, ideally 15ft square. This isgood for those with country estates, not so good for people in cramped London house shares.The Vive can be used in smaller spaces, but this may result in confused doctors trying to makesense of the first run of VR accidents.

The Vive is therefore a bit of a tricky proposition. It’s more expensive than rival VR headset theOculus Rift , but each time we’ve tried the Vive during its development phase we’ve been blownaway.

And if you think about it, the Vive is a much cheaper and healthier way of entering fantasy worldsthan sustaining a hallucinogenic drug habit. µ

2016-03-01 06:21

6 The State of Application Delivery: 2016 Report

Because we rely on them so heavily, applications must be available when weneed them, able to respond within a split second to meet our demands, and

secure enough to protect our confidential information.

To do that, applications need services. Without them, they are like cars without fuel, bankswithout vaults, and passports without pictures. Services do things like improve availability andperformance to ensure that applications are always accessible and performing as users expect.They also help you protect your network, systems, users, devices, and confidential information,and give you the control you need to decide which applications users can access.

Download this report to learn the number and types of applications and services being used byF5 customers, what their greatest challenges are in delivering them, which services they needmore of, and which ones they plan to deploy in the future.2016-03-01 12:00

7 Addressing Advanced Web Threats: Protect Your Data and

BrandSome of the most sophisticated web-based threats are design to hide in plainsight on legitimate and well-trafficked websites. Once an organization’snetwork is compromised, it can take weeks, months, or longer for an advanced persistent threatenabled through web malware to be detected in the network.

To address web security challenges effectively, enterprises need a comprehensive solution.Download this paper to learn how Cisco web security provides:2016-03-01 12:01

8 The Manitoba Connection

Manitoba Hydro Telecom (MHT) is a facilities-based carrier class telecom service provider, offering a suite of wholesale products to carriers, wireless

operators, private and public corporations, and education and healthcare organizations.

Download this white paper to learn how wireless internet providers and enterprise customerscan take advantage of tower colocation services and wide area network solutions through fibre-optics.2016-03-01 12:01

9 RSA 2016: Women speak out on the trials and joys of infosec

careersSAN FRANCISCO — Kerry Matre is one of thefew women who have risen to senior positions inIT security.

As a senior security product marketing managerfor Hewlett-Packard Enterprises, she helps buildsecurity operations centres for customers. Butshe admits she’s come close to quitting.

Not from the stress of the work, but from boorish men in the industry, usually at trade shows.“People have a couple of drinks and then decide its OK to speak whatever’s on their mind,” shesaid in an interview. “Things that begin with ‘I shouldn’t say this in front of girls, but Kerry’s one of

the guys.’

“If you start out with a statement like that you shouldn’t be saying it.”

Matre was one of five women who hold IT security-related jobs speaking Monday at the RSA2016 conference on the trials and joys of being a female in the industry, and how to increasetheir numbers.

The numbers aren’t pretty. According to research sponsored in part by the InternationalInformation Systems Security Certification Consortium (ISC2), which specializes in informationsecurity education and certifications, in 2014 women counted for 10 per cent of the global ITsecurity workforce, a percentage unchanged in the previous two years.

There is good news: Within the infosec sector, women hold about 20 per cent of governance,risk and compliance-related positions. Organizations increasingly see the value of riskmanagement, so for women in GRC jobs the future is brighter.

But it also means women are – still – very underrepresented in network and operational securityjobs.

Panelists said the obstacles they faced weren’t necessarily from colleagues. Gurdeep Kaurcame from a family in India whose attitude was she could study all she wanted but she was still agirl. “I’m going to show you what a girl can do,” she decided. She’s now chief security architect ofinternational insurer AIG.

But there were other incidents. Ping Look, director of information security at Optiv Inc. butformerly an events manager at conference producer Black Hat, recalled one show where avendor at the trade show attracted attendees with a semi-dressed woman lying on a tablecovered in shushi.

She spoke to the company to remind them it was a technology event, even though overwhelmingattended by men. Did the company want people to come to booth for the woman or to discusstheir product, she asked. Separately, Black Hat created a trade show code of conduct.

That was one of the themes panelists and women in the audience mentioned: The need forwomen – and men — to speak out, to not keep quiet in the face of bad behavior.

Angela Messier, an executive vice-president with cyber security experience at consulting firmBooze Allen Hamilton also emphasized the need to remind companies that diversity among staffis good for business.

You can’t solve problems around cyber unless there’s a diverse team, she said. Teams needpeople with good technical skills, but also people who are curious and who know how to worktogether. Women have to push themselves, she added.

But Matre said they also have to fight. Men sometimes tell her they’d like to hire more women butfew applied for a job. “Baloney,” she said. If you’re not getting the resumes there’s somethingwrong with the job posting.

In an interview panel moderator Elise Yacobellis, ISC2’s director of business development forAmericas, said she’s optimistic about the future of women in IT. The data in the study is alagging indicator of what’s happening now, she explained. “There’s a lot of work that has to bedone, but I am optimistic that more and more women will join this field, especially as we move itfrom a deep technology discussion to more of a business risk, and working across all ofbusiness. Security is something that everyone has to be accountable for in all parts of businessand I think that women have great communications skills to get that out there.”

Kerry Matre isn’t so sure. Generally the industry is great, she said. “There’s a couple of badseeds, which there will be in any industry. Throw in some alcohol and inappropriate behaviourcomes out. I don’t think it’s indicative of the industry, or most men in the industry. It’s just acouple, but it’s enough that it negatively affects the women in the industry. And when stuff like that

happens and another male who sees it doesn’t call it out, that’s when you feel very secluded andalone.”

But she said she’s neutral on the future of women in infosec based upon history. In the 1980s thenumber of women in IT increased and we thought things were getting better she said. “But aswe’ve seen that’s not the case.”2016-03-01 11:51 Howard Solomon

10 Wooting One keyboard can act like an analog controller

Wooting is a name you may not be immediatelyfamiliar with, but the fledgling company is lookingto make a splash in the keyboard arena. Thecompany has announced the Wooting One , atenkeyless board targeted at the gaming market.

This board has one twist that regular gamingkeyboards don't, though. A regular key press isan all-or-nothing affair. The Wooting One uses

switches that measure the pressure applied to them. That input can then be turned into a varietyof actions in games. Example include pressing a key harder to make a character run instead ofwalk, or using WASD keys to precisely control a vehicle in driving games. If this concept soundsa little familiar, it's because Topre demonstrated a similar concept last year. Check outWooting's demo video below:

Although Wooting doesn't go into much detail, the company mentions that its software can helpplayers "customize analog functions for each game," so it's not too far-fetched to imagine there'ssome sort of gamepad or joystick emulation going on to ensure compatibility with existinggames. As a bonus, Wooting says that the keyboard's settings can be stored in internalmemory. The One can drop the analog input and act as a plain ol' regular keyboard, too.

Wooting's statement that the switches inside the One are "not just a Red switch" is open tointerpretation, but it seems to indicate that the company has developed its own take on the goodol' Cherry MX Red switches. The frameless upper deck of the board lets the per-key RGB LEDbacklighting shine.

Other touches include swappable top plates and a detachable braided USB cable that can berouted using the gutters on the keyboard's underside. Wooting offers no word on pricing orexpected availability, but interested folks can join a waiting list for more information.2016-03-01 11:10 by Bruno

11 Raspberry Pi 3 gets built-in Wi-Fi and 64-bit support at $35

Today marks the fourth birthday of the originalRaspberry Pi tiny computer. To celebrate, theRaspberry Pi Foundation has released theRaspberry Pi 3 , its third-generation model. Withthis iteration, the Raspberry Pi gets a deliciousspec boost while holding on to the prior model's$35 price point.

Perhaps the biggest additions to this RaspberryPi are integrated 802.11n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth4.1. With prior models , users had to rely onEthernet or USB connections for talking to theoutside world, so these additions make the Pi 3 easier to use and a better value. The RaspberryPi 3 also gets a beefier Soc in the form of the Broadcom BCM2837. That part boasts four ARMCortex-A53 cores clocked at 1.2GHz. The chip also offers both 32-bit and 64-bit support. In 32-

bit mode, the SoC purportedly offers a 50-60% boost in performance compared to theRaspberry Pi 2.

The rest of the Raspberry Pi 3 looks similar to the Raspberry Pi 2. It comes with 1GB ofSDRAM, four USB 2.0 ports, a single HDMI port, and a microSD card slot. In what will come asa disappointment to those hoping for gigabit speeds, a 10/100 Ethernet adapter makes arepeat appearance. The computer is still powered by a 5V micro-USB adapter, but for thismodel the Foundation recommends a 2.5A adapter if a lot of power is needed for USB devices.

The Foundation says it will keep selling all three generations of the Raspberry Pi as long asthere is demand. The Raspberry Pi 3 is available for sale now.2016-03-01 11:27 by Morgan

12 Apple moves to vacate court order requiring it to unlock an

iPhoneLike many in the software world, we've been closelyfollowing Apple's dispute with the United Statesgovernment. Apple has been cooperating with theinvestigation into the 2015 terrorist attack in SanBernardino, California until now, but the companyrecently ended up facing an order that it felt wasunreasonable: to create a special version of iOS thatwould allow the government to brute-force one of theshooter's iPhones.

Earlier this month, Apple's CEO Tim Cook penned anopen letter objecting to one of the government'srequests, and today, Apple filed a motion to vacate thecourt order compelling it to comply with the FBI'srequest.

For a legal document, the motion is quite readable. The introduction in particular is worth a lookif you're at all interested in the ramifications of the case. Apple's argument is that theDepartment of Justice and the FBI are trying to use the courts rather than the legislature to gainan extraordinary and dangerous power. Apple objects to the FBI's use of the All Writs Act ,asserts that the requested software would endanger the security and privacy of all Apple users,and claims obeying this order would create a dangerous precedent.

Apple's first complaint is that this argument is happening in the courts rather than in public. Thecompany's motion argues that "the government had the opportunity to seek amendments toexisting law, to ask Congress to adopt the position it urges here. But rather than pursue newlegislation, the government backed away from Congress and turned to the courts. "

To be fair to the FBI, America's legislative branch has not been setting productivity recordsrecently. However, we think Apple has a point here. It says, "By invoking 'terrorism' and movingex parte behind closed courtroom doors, the government sought to cut off debate andcircumvent thoughtful analysis. " These issues are certainly worth public discussion and debate.

Another facet of the argument worth discussing is the FBI's use of the All Writs Act of 1789 tosupport its position. As Apple reminds us, the All Writs Act "is intended to enable the federalcourts to fill in gaps in the law so they can exercise the authority they already possess. "Regardless of changing times and technology, the government does need the ability to exerciseimportant powers, and the All Writs Act ensures that.

However, Apple claims that act "does not grant the courts free-wheeling authority to change thesubstantive law, resolve policy disputes, or exercise new powers that Congress has not affordedthem. " Specifically to this case, Apple claims that the All Writs Act does not require the

company to devote engineers to creating software that doesn't exist today.

Clearly, Apple is not only concerned about this particular phone, but about the security of itscustomer base and its continuing business. Creating a back door, Apple claims, would "createa crippled and insecure product. Once the process is created, it provides an avenue forcriminals and foreign agents to access millions of iPhones. " Additionally, some in the techcommunity have worried that the United States' surveillance program has hurt the reputation andbottom line of American technology companies already. If the general public starts to view theiPhone's security as weak and exploitable, Apple's business will suffer.

Finally, Apple worries about the precedent set by this court order. The company vigorouslydismisses the FBI's claim that this is a one-time request as follows: "The government says: 'Justthis once' and 'Just this phone.' But the government knows those statements are not true; indeedthe government has filed multiple other applications for similar orders, some of which arepending in other courts. " Apple goes on to note that a number of government officials aroundthe country have already announced that they would also seek to compel Apple through thecourts to perform the same service.

Apple also thinks that this order could lead to even more dangerous invasions of privacy. Themotion declares that "if Apple can be forced to write code in this case to bypass securityfeatures and create new accessibility, what is to stop the government from demanding thatApple write code to turn on the microphone in aid of government surveillance, activate the videocamera, surreptitiously record conversations, or turn on location services to track the phone'suser? Nothing. "

There's a lot more to analyze and discuss in the motion, but there's one detail in particular thatwill likely induce horrifying flashbacks to anyone who has provided technical support. Appleclaims that if the FBI hadn't bungled the investigation to begin with, the court order the companyis protesting wouldn't even be necessary. Apparently, the FBI changed the iCloud passwordassociated with one of the attacker's acccounts. Had the agents allowed the phone to initiate anautomatic iCloud back-up to a known Wi-Fi network, they could have purportedly obtained all theinformation they were looking for. Instead, the government acted without consulting Apple, andended up taking the matter to court instead.2016-03-01 11:10 by Eric

13 Samsung's latest curved monitors do FreeSync over HDMI

Some of the best things in life have the rightcurves, like cars and guitars. Samsung is lookingto add monitors to that list, as it's just unveiled atrio of 1080p curved displays. Meet the 27"CF591 and the CF390 series, available in 23.5"and 27" sizes.

Samsung CF591

These monitors can all use AMD's FreeSyncvariable refresh rate technology over their HDMIinputs. Until recently, FreeSync was a featurelimited to DisplayPort outputs. The refresh ratemaxes out at 60Hz for all three displays, though.

All three displays use vertical-alignment (or VA) LCD panels. Samsung says these panelsshould offer better contrast with fewer backlight bleed issues than IPS technology. The specifiedcontrast ratio for all three monitors is 3000:1, and maximum brightness is 250 cd/m². Thedisplays' backlights are claimed to be flicker-free, too. The 1800R (or 1800-mm radius)curvature on these monitors is stronger than average for a curved display.

Samsung CF390

Now for the main differences between the different models. The CF591's panel can cover aclaimed 117% of the sRGB color space. Samsung builds two 5W speakers into this model, too.The CF591 includes a DisplayPort 1.2 input, dual HDMI 1.4 connectors, and a VGA input.

Meanwhile, the CF390 models are a little simpler. These displays lack built-in speakers andDisplayPort inputs, but the integrated stand offers height, swivel, and tilt adjustments. TheCF390s offer HDMI and VGA connectors.2016-03-01 11:10 by Bruno

14 In the lab: a case, cooler, and power supply from be quiet!

TR has covered news of various products from be quiet! for sometime now, and I'm pleased to welcome a raft of the company'shardware into our labs for testing. The company sent us its SilentBase 800 case , its Dark Rock Pro 3 CPU cooler , and its DarkPower Pro 11 850W PSU for evaluation. Let's take a quick look atthese in turn.

First up, we're looking at the Silent Base 800 full-tower in black andsilver with a windowed side panel. This is a big, distinctive-lookingcase that's full of silencing features, including a unique double-glazed side window on the left panel and thick foam behind thedrive door, front fan cover, and right side panel. At $150 onNewegg right now , this case isn't cheap, but its distinctive featureset might make it worth the price. We'll have to find out in ourreview.

Next, have a gander at the Dark Rock Pro 3 CPU cooler. This huge dual-tower heatsink drawsair through its front face using a 120-mm Silent Wings fan, and the two towers hide a second,135-mm Silent Wings spinner inside. At 2.6 pounds (1.2 kilograms), the Dark Rock Pro 3 is amassive thing to hang off a motherboard, but its dark nickel plating and brushed-aluminum capwill probably class up any build. We strangely can't find a retail price for this monster online rightnow, but be quiet! says the Dark Rock Pro 3 carries a $90 suggested price.

Finally, we have be quiet!'s Dark Power Pro 11 850W PSU. My case-and-cooling test rigsneeded a PSU upgrade, and be quiet! had just the thing. Not only can this PSU provide morepower than one could conceivably need for anything short of a multi-GPU setup, the Dark PowerPro 11 is also built with the same 135-mm Silent Wings fan as the Dark Rock Pro 3 above.

This unit comes stock with rubber isolators on its front and rear edges to minimize vibrationtransfer. Even though it doesn't have a semi-silent mode, I can't imagine the Dark Power Pro'sfan will ever need to spin up much past idle thanks to its 80 Plus Platinum rating. We'll have tosee how it performs when it's actually plugged in, but I have high hopes for this unit. At $180 rightnow , this PSU is a bit spendy, but high power and Platinum certification don't come cheap.

Our thanks to be quiet! for this cool hardware. Stay tuned for our reviews of the Silent Base 800and Dark Rock Pro 3.2016-02-29 21:19 by Jeff

15 HDR's TV potential will still be compromised for years to

comePanasonic is rocking Frankfurt with its annual tech showcase and, unsurprisingly, all the TV talkis about HDR.

But despite new advances in TV tech, one of the biggest things holding back the adoption ofboth 4K and HDR is a real lack of dedicated content available.

On the 4K side it's all relatively straightforward;you shoot everything in ultra high definition andthen for the folk still watching on their 1080p setsthey can have it downsampled without losinganything but the extra sharpness of 4K.

High dynamic range content is different.

When something is created with HDR effects inmind you get a very different proposition when it'sdownscaled to SDR, losing the lighting, theshadowy details and the creative vision behind it.That is leading industry experts to believe that it will be years before we see the full power ofHDR as a creative force in our TV shows.

Netflix is bringing HDR to our screens this year, and has been bullish about its appeal , andshooting the Netflix Original, Marco Polo, in HDR has enthused its Director of Photography,Vanja Cernjul, A. S. C. about the technology. But he readily admits he had to hold back andcompromise his vision for the show because most people will only ever watch it in standarddynamic range.

"That was the main thing that was on my mind," Cernjul told techradar. "For the next year or so,only a limited amount of people will be viewing this in HDR, so we had to make sure that it looksgood in SDR still. That was a balance we had to think about that maybe a couple of years wewon't have to think about. "

But with so many of this year's televisions coming out with HDR as a focus, such as Panasonic'snew DX900 series , Sony's 2016 TVs and LG's full OLED range , there will be far more viewersout there desperate for some great HDR content to harness the power of their new panels.

And that's when we'll start to see the potential of HDR as a creative force come to the forewithout the compromises needing to scale things back for SDR brings.

"Ultimately what's going to be interesting is once the film-makers start to create contentspecifically for HDR screens," said Cernjul.

But not only will we benefit from having TV shows created with HDR in mind from the get-go,Cernjul also believes that the new technology will entice even more Hollywood talent to the smallscreen as the place to really stretch their creative muscles.

We've already seen big name talent looking to TV as a place to tell more in-depth stories,especially with the likes of Netflix and Amazon less beholden to the budgetary constraints ofnetwork television. And having almost a new medium in HDR will only exacerbate the trend.

"It will attract even more talent from the people who traditionally work in theatrical release; theywill be more interested in creating more content for TV," explains Cernjul. "The audience willbenefit from even better creative power behind the programmes. "

Article continues below2016-03-01 08:10 By Dave

16 Thecus N5810PRO NAS Review

Over the last several months, we’ve taken a close look at a network attachedstorage (NAS) device provided by Thecus called the N5810PRO. It’s a five-

bay storage solution that was released last summer, built for small- to medium-sizedbusinesses, and is packed with its own built-in mini-UPS and a quad-core Intel Celeron J1900processor. The NAS is unquestionably feature-rich, and should meet the needs of its targetaudience. For the general consumer, however, the NAS can be a bit challenging.

First, let’s start with the hardware specs. In addition to the processor, which is clocked at 2GHz,the N5810PRO has 4GB DDR3 RAM (expandable to 8GB), five Gigabit Ethernet ports, twoUSB 3.0 ports (one front, one back), two USB 2.0 ports on the back, an HDMI port on the back,and an LCM display on the front complete with two navigational buttons (Enter, Esc, up, down). Italso packs a 130W power supply and a built-in fan to keep its innards cool.

This hardware is packed into a metal chassis measuring 9.06x7.48x9.45 inches. There is anLED installed beside each drive bay to indicate when the NAS is accessing the installedhardware. We inserted three 4TB drives into the NAS; drives must be physically mounted in thedrive tray rather than merely slipped in.

Upon first setup, users must install a small program on their PC that will find the NAS on thenetwork. Once the device is found, the user clicks on the IP address link, logs onto the NASusing the default password and username, determine if the NAS needs a fixed IP address orone supplied by the local router (DHCP), sets a new password, saves the information, and thencloses the program. After that, users simply load up the NAS address in a web browser usingthe saved credentials.

For this review, the first thing we did was update the firmware to the latest release (v2.05.12).This NAS runs on the company’s Linux-based ThecusOS operating system, which upon loadingprovides links to the main administration portion, modules you may have installed, and otherapps that can be installed from the Thecus NAS App Center. (Not all apps show up here, butmore on that later.) By clicking the Admin button, you jump into the meat of ThecusOS.

I’m going to be honest and admit that I’m not a big fan of ThecusOS, having been spoiled byother NAS solutions that provide a more pleasant visual experience and easier access to apps.The general consumer may be confused and overwhelmed by this platform at first, but again, thisNAS is designed for the small- to medium-sized business. Those accessing ThecusOS in anenterprise environment are presumably professionals who are used to working without the visualglitz.

The ThecusOS UI consists of a menu bar on the left, the information window on the right, and atoolbar on the bottom. This toolbar provides quick access to RAID management, diskinformation, fan information, details regarding the mini-UPS, the current temperature, and thecurrent network status. The information window defaults to the main Home page, which listsshortcuts to the iTunes server, shared folders, the system log, FTP setup, and more. Users canadd shortcuts to this page by clicking the My Favorite button listed throughout the platform’ssettings.

The toolbar on the left has nine categories: System Information, System Management, SystemNetwork, Storage, User and Group Authentication, Network Service, Application Server,Backup, and External Devices. To create a volume for storing data, we clicked on the Storagecategory, which lists the subcategories Disk Information, RAID Management, NAS Stacking,ISO Image mounting, Share Folders, iSCSI, Disk Clone and Wipe, and System Failover. Weclicked on RAID Management to create a RAID 5 volume, which provided a total capacity of7.5TB. After that, it was time to install some apps.

Unfortunately, installing apps isn’t as easy as loading up a built-in app store, as we’ve seen withother NAS solutions. Instead, users must click the Application Server section listed on thetoolbar and click the Manual App Installation subcategory. Here you’ll see a field for pointing theThecusOS to an app downloaded to your PC. These can be obtained by visiting the company’sonline NAS App Center, which offers 727 apps for its NAS lineup.

On the site, Thecus provides means for searching for apps by model and categories. Thecompany serves up a handful of first-party apps for the N5810PRO along with an individualnamed Stephane. Categories include Backup/Sync, Business, CMS, Downloader, FileManagement, Mail Server, Media/DNLA, Photo Server, Security, Tools, Web, Others, and CoreApp. Thecus-developed apps include Dropbox, WebDisk, XBMC, Piczza!, McAfee VirusScan,Dashboard, and more.

For this review, we installed Plex, DropBox, the Thecus Dashboard Server, VirusScan, andPiczza. As previously mentioned, you must download and extract these apps onto yourcomputer, hit the little monitor button next to the App File field on the Manual App Installationpage, direct ThecusOS to that unzipped file, and then hit the Install button. Once the app isinstalled, you’ll have to search for it on the ThecusOS platform by heading back to the ManualApp Installation page. These apps do not appear on the Home page.

For instance, the App Management box on the Manual App Installation provides links to theinstalled apps. Click on the Plex link, and you’re directed to “NASaddress:3200/web/index.html#!/dashboard” in your browser. Dropbox is located at “NASaddress/modules/Dropbox/www/manage.htm” and Piczza at “NASaddress/modules/Piczza/www/index.php”. The Thecus Dashboard Server is necessary if youwant to access the NAS by using the company’s Dashboard app for mobile devices, whichallows the user to manage services like AFP and NFS, change a user’s password, and so on.

Because you’ll likely have different users accessing the NAS, administrators will need to set upaccounts by clicking on the User and Group Authentication category on the toolbar. Under thissection, Local User Configuration allows you to create a username and password for eachindividual accessing the device.

Unfortunately, the NAS doesn’t simply show up in Windows Explorer when you install it on yournetwork (unless you’ve installed services like Plex). So, how do you upload and download files?In a Windows 10 environment, I had to load up File Explorer and type a \NAS address (such as\192.168.0.15) into the search bar to access the volume. Once loaded, I could see the volume’sexisting folders, such as NAS_Public, usbhdd, iTunes_music, _NAS_Piczza_, etc.

Initially, you can’t create new folders in this File Explorer window; this action is instead done viaThecusOS by clicking on the Storage category in the toolbar, the Shared Folders subcategory,and the Add button if adding a folder. These folders can also be edited and removed using thistool. However, the good news is that you can map your PC to one of these folders in FileExplorer and add/delete files and folders. For instance, I could map the “NAS_Public” folder toDrive Z in a Windows 10 environment, which allowed me to create and delete folders, andupload files.

Because ThecusOS is based on Linux, file access in Windows is made possible thanks to theSamba service, which is enabled by default. Users can change Samba’s details by using theNetwork Service category in the ThecusOS toolbar, and then selecting the Samba/CIFSsubcategory. Settings include File Access Cache, Samba Native mode, Block size, ServerSigning, and more. For the record, the Network Service category also provides other servicesusers can activate and tweak including AFP, NFS, FTP, TFTP, WebService, UPnP Service,SSH, DDNS, VPN Server, and loads more.

As previously stated, this NAS provides five gigabit Ethernet ports. The first port is forconnecting the device to the local network while the others can be used as a redundancy in casethe main connection fails. Users can tweak each port by selecting the System Network categoryon the toolbar, which provides Networking, DHCP/RADVD, and Link Aggregationsubcategories. For instance, by selecting Networking, users can manually set an IP address orlet DHCP assign a number on each port. Under Link Aggregation, users can set the defaultgateway and view the IPv4 and IPv6 settings of each port. Thecus says the NAS supportsadditional external NIC cards, allowing administrators to pack on extra networking ports.

On the backup front, users can access this feature by selecting Backup in the toolbar, whichserves up DOM Backup, Rsync Target Server, ACL Backup/Restore, Data Burn, Data Guard,and Amazon S3 subcategories. For instance, under the Amazon S3 subcategory, you can loadup a backup wizard that allows you to back up to a remote NAS, to folders/devices/iSCSItargets on a local NAS, or to an Amazon S3 service. If users choose local backup, they’regreeted with options to import from external devices, copy between folders according to thesource and destination of your choice, real-time NAS backup, scheduling a backup, iSCSI

backup, and iSCSI import.

The Data Burn feature is interesting in that users can burn NAS data directly to a CD, DVD, orBlu-ray disc. It’s as if users have a built-in disc burner, allowing them to name the disc, addfolders and files, select the data verification, and burning speed. If you have an ISO stored on theNAS, there’s a tab for that, too: just locate the file, select the destination disc, and hit burn. Youcan also create an image file by adding folders and files, and selecting an ISO path.

One of the big selling points of the Thecus NAS is its VPN support. The device provides both aclient and a server; the former merely requires the user to input a VPN Server IP address, ausername, and a password. The VPN Server feature offers plenty of settings to tinker with, suchas choosing which Ethernet port to use, and enabling an L2TP/IPSec VPN server. This sectionalso provides a list of clients (in this case, the two user accounts I created for the review), a list ofconnected users, and a usage log.

The Thecus NAS also provides settings for external devices such as connected printers and aUPS. For the latter, you can enable UPS monitoring, view its IP address, manufacturer andmodel, check out its current status, and additional information. The Printers subcategory alsoprovides the device’s manufacturer and model information along with its current status, theability to restart the printer service, and remove a document from the queue.

Another cool feature for home users is the N5810PRO's inclusion of an HDMI port on the back,so that it can connect to a monitor or HDTV. And thanks to the two USB 2.0 ports on the back,users can also connect a keyboard and mouse, allowing the NAS to turn into a makeshift Linuxdesktop. Thus, instead of grabbing video files through the network, you can watch stored moviesand TV shows directly. There’s also a built-in web browser with Flash support, making thisdevice more than just a storage solution.

Finally, users can get a brief list of information about the NAS by through the System Informationcategory in the toolbar. Here you can get general information, the system’s status, hardwareinformation, and so on. The System Management category is where you can update thefirmware, control the built-in fan, set the NAS back to its factory defaults, manage passwords,schedule a reboot to check the file system, and so on. The device also supports SNMP, which isturned off by default.

Ultimately, there’s a lot going on with the Thecus N5810PRO NAS device, more than can becovered in this review. To get a full idea of what this machine is capable of, the companyprovides a 220-page manual here, which we relied on heavily to get started. Naturally, the NASdoesn’t come ready out of the box, so if you purchase one, you'll likely need to give the manual athorough read-through.

As previously expressed, I’m not a big fan of the ThecusOS platform in its current state. It’s notexactly user-friendly to the novice user, and its overall presentation could be better. However, thecompany introduced its upcoming ThecusOS 7.0 platform back in December, promising abetter experience. This updated operating system is said to be compliant with HTML5 andfeatures a 64-bit architecture, a File Center feature, and a modernized design. It also promisesenhanced multimedia capabilities and an incorporated App Center. I'm looking forward tochecking it out.2016-03-01 08:00

17 Apple fights FBI iPhone encryption demands with Microsoft

and Facebook supportAPPLE HAS urged a US federal court to throw out an order demanding that the company helpsan FBI investigation by unlocking an encrypted iPhone belonging to one of the gunmen in theSan Bernardino shootings.

Apple has argued that decrypting the phone would violate the firm's free speech rights and

bypass the will of Congress.

The FBI wants the iPhone passcode used by SyedRizwan Farook to aid an investigation into his role inthe murder of 14 people at the Inland Regional Centrein San Bernardino on 2 December.

“The government's request creates an unprecedentedburden on Apple and violates Apple's FirstAmendment rights against compelled speech,” saidApple in a filing to the court.

“No court has ever authorised what the government now seeks, no law supports such unlimitedand sweeping use of the judicial process, and the Constitution forbids it.”

But the US government has contended that judges have the right to enforce their own ordersunder the All Writs Act law of 1789 and thus compel Apple to obey the FBI’s request.

Apple warned that such a move is “a dangerous power that Congress and the American peoplehave withheld” and that it violates the US Constitution.

The company is not alone in this assertion. Microsoft has thrown its corporate weight behind itsrival, and is supporting Apple in its legal battle.

“Put simply, we do not believe that courts should seek to resolve issues of 21st centurytechnology with law that was written in the era of the adding machine,” said Microsoft presidentand chief legal officer Brad Smith.

“We need 21st century laws that address 21st century technology issues. And we need theselaws to be written by Congress. "

This is in stark contrast to Microsoft founder Bill Gates who has said that Apple should complywith the FBI. But he’s also a supporter of Donald Trump for the US presidency. We guess that’swhat drinking poo water does to you.

Facebook also has Apple’s back and will support the firm in the court battle. CEO MarkZuckerberg said at MWC 2016 : “We are pretty sympathetic to Tim and Apple. I don’t thinkrequiring back doors to encryption is an effective [way] to increase security or is the right thing todo. "

Apple has fought the FBI’s demands for some weeks. CEO Tim Cook said that writing a pieceof software that puts a backdoor into an iPhone would be the “equivalent of cancer”. µ2016-03-01 09:52

18 Hive users in some locations are being slowly baked

HIVE USER? FEELING HOT? Relax, as it might be a technologyproblem as opposed to something medical. It seems that the smartthermostat has decided to turn up the heat in some locations andtake users on a staycation to higher temperatures.

Affected homes are heating up to 32c, according to reports and astatement from the thermostat flogger. This is probably too warmeven for your grandmother, and will be viewed as extreme by others.

Hive has confirmed the problem to a news site called The Memo ,saying in not so many words that some thermostat owners areprobably drinking more water than they usually do.

@willsonix Hi Steve, I bet you had a right sweat on! Have you managed to fix it? If not, I'm sure@HiveHelper can sort it. Thanks, Philip.

— British Gas Help (@BritishGasHelp) February 27, 2016

"We are aware of a temporary glitch affecting a very small number of customers where a certainsequence of commands in the Hive iOS app can cause the thermostat temperature to rise to32°C," said the firm.

Hive, which is operated by British Gas , reckons that rather than sit and sweat and dehydrateusers should simply turn their heating down. This makes sense, and we cannot imagine thatpeople will not have tried this already.

"Any customers seeing this can very easily and immediately fix it by simply turning thethermostat down using the app, web dashboard or the thermostat itself," the company explained."No-one needs to worry about their temperature being too high because the rest of the appworks as normal. Meanwhile, we are working on a software update which should be availablesoon. "

We've asked Hive for more details about the fault, but perhaps the firm will have found a fix bythe time it gets back to us. This will, at least, save any humans the trouble of standing up andmoving around.

In the meantime, if you are too hot you really ought to check the settings on your thermostat ortake your cardigan off or something. µ

The INQUIRER 's sister site Computing will be holding an Internet of Things Business Summit in London on May 12. Attendance is free to qualifying end users and places are already goingfast. Visit the event page to see the agenda and to sign up. µ2016-03-01 09:52

19 Bomgar launches password vault to add to cloudless secure

access systemSECURE ACCESS provider Bomgar has announceda new password vault service to add to its existing on-premise access systems.

Unlike most systems, Bomgar acts as a brokerbetween connections based on the customerpremises, meaning that a tunnel is exactly that: nocloud or third-party involvement.

The INQUIRER spoke to Stuart Facey, VP EMEA,and Willian Culbert, solution engineering managerEMEA, about the service.

"There's nothing wrong with a VPN tunnel in principle, but there's a high degree of lack of control.Bomgar replaces that with its own secure tunnel with a broker in the middle making sure thereare no point-to-point connections between the server and the computer," said Culbert.

The difference between a traditional VPN solution and Bomgar is in the level of security offeredby an on-premise solution and the granular control.

"When you set the connection up it is qualified as to when that tunnel opens, whether you'reallowed to use that window, what time you're allowed to use that window, what you can do in thatwindow, what network you can access in that window," he explained.

"It allows the injection of passwords which you can't do with a VPN in the same way so you don'tsee passwords as part of the process. "

You can also see exactly what's happened when. "In addition, whatever you've done is audited ina textual context and a video film context, so you can replay the complete incident from opening

the tunnel to closing the tunnel," said Facey.

Culbert added: "As part of an audit trail, what you want is to be able to prove who, what andwhen, and those are the three things you can give to an organisation. "

Bomgar is an on-premise solution, so customers remain secure even if their own network iscompromised.

"All of our customers have their unique version of the software. What that means in an era ofsocial engineering is that spearfishing attacks are a lot more difficult," said Culbert.

"If you're using a using a third-party remote access service you could be breaking your internalsecurity policy by inviting someone into your internal security structure. By connecting someonethrough your own system, you're proving that it's an approved source of remote connectivity. "

Other advantages can be found for sensitive industries where discretion, auditing, filing andsecurity governance are paramount, as Culbert explained.

"Organisations depending on their sector and location have to comply with different securitygovernance models and these could involve not offshoring certain data. From a cloudperspective, you don't know where the data is going," he said.

It's not rocket science, according to Facey: "Think about it: you wouldn't put your safe full ofvaluables in the garage. You'd keep it in the house. "

The new password vault service works by providing a form of token access to avoid passwordsbeing transferred at all, meaning that security is assured.

It can be used alongside multi-factor authentication for added safety, and will be available"soon". µ

To hear more about security challenges, the threats they pose and how to combat them, sign upfor The INQUIRER sister site Computing's Enterprise Security and Risk Managementconference , taking place on 24 November.2016-03-01 09:52

20 Bing, Google make predictions about Super Tuesday's

winnersThe hunt for the next US president will take a bigstep toward becoming a two-person race afterSuper Tuesday, the online-search results say.

At least one caucus or primary will be held in 12states, and the team at Bing is among thosepredicting that Hillary Clinton and Donald Trumpwill be the big winners of the day, giving each aleg up on securing the Democratic andRepublican nominations, respectively.

In addition to search queries, Bing says it arrivedat the predictions using "machine-learnedpredictive models" that also take data from polls,prediction markets and social media posts. So

far, Bing has correctly predicted seven of the eight primary and caucus results, missing only TedCruz's narrow victory in Iowa.

Google searches also do a pretty good job of predicting Republican winners so far this year,without even factoring in data from polls, social media or other sources. Check out thebreakdown below to see how search volume for each of the candidates on the evening of the

New Hampshire primary almost perfectly mirrors the results:

The oracle of Google falls apart on the Democratic side of things, though, with Sanders showingstrong search interest this primary season that he's yet to convert to any victories outside of NewEngland.

We'll see soon if Americans continue to vote the way that they search (for Republicans, at least),but does search have anything to say about who will actually be the next occupant of the WhiteHouse?2016-03-01 05:48 Eric Mack

21 WhatsApp to withdraw support for Nokia and Blackberry

devices by end of 2016As we start this new month, we’re afraid to saythat for those that are using WhatsApp on BlackBerry 10, Nokia S40, Nokia Symbian S60,Android 2.1 and Android 2.2, Windows Phone7.1, WhatsApp plans to withdraw their support forthe mentioned devices by the end of 2016. Lastmonth (Feb 26), the social media companycelebrated one billion people who are using themessaging app, and earlier this week as theycelebrate their seventh birthday, they also plan onmaking some changes on their platform, as they also plan on putting an even greater emphasison security features in the coming months.

According to the messaging app, back in 2009 when WhatsApp had just started, 70% ofsmartphones sold at that time had their operating systems offered by Blackberry and Nokia, andas for today, 99.5% of smartphones are running on Google , Apple and Microsoft operatingsystems.

WhatsApp wants to focus their efforts on the mobile platforms that huge majority of people areusing. Thus, by the end of 2016, if you are among one of these affected mobile devices, you’rerecommended to upgrade to the newer versions of Android, Window Phones, iPhones if youwant to continue using the messaging platform.

“While these mobile devices have been an important part of our story, they don’t offer the kind ofcapabilities we need to expand our app’s features in the future.” Reported in a WhatsApp blog

WhatsApp adds saying, it was a tough decision for them to make, but the right one in order togive people better ways to keep in touch with friends, family, and loved ones using WhatsApp.2016-03-01 07:30 Nathan Ernest

22 HTC Vive Steam-rolls through 15,000 sales in 10 minutes

Though the announcement of its high pricing andshipping costs had thrown many for a loop overthe last few days, it appears that HTC andValve's virtual reality headset, the HTC Vive , hasproven too irresistible for VR enthusiasts to passup.

HTC's Shen Ye has announced via Twitter thatthe Vive, which went up for pre-order earliertoday, sold 15,000 units in less 10 minutes.

At a minimum cost of US$799 each (not counting

the added costs incurred by Australian and British customers), that adds up to roughly US$12million in revenue – imagine what that figure will be once the whole day is up.

Though the Vive's less expensive ( but still pretty costly ) main competitor, the Oculus Rift , hasyet to reveal sell-through numbers since going up for pre-order in January , the high volume oforders forced the company to push back its shipping date.

Article continues below2016-03-01 06:25 By Stephen

23 Indian budget to boost startup ecosystem

Indian Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's budget for2016-17, which was presented in Parliament onMonday, did not offer everything that wasexpected by Indian startups.

In his 100-minute budget speech, the financeminister said that startups will get 100 percent taxbreaks for three years and there will be no tax oncapital gains on investments. But consideringover 90 percent of the startups will not makeprofits in the first two to three years of theirinception, this concession will not benefit many.

He also announced that the government willintroduce a bill to amend the Companies Act andhelp startups complete their registration as companies within a day. This is a welcome step, asa startup in a country like Singapore, which is known to be industry friendly, takes three days forregistration. This is also expected to encourage more of India's youth to launch their owninitiatives and generate employment for others.

One notable proposal has been to earmark $74 million (500 crore rupees) for underprivilegedsections (Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes) of the society, as well as womenentrepreneurs, in order to provide them easy access to funds.

Besides which, the budget proposals are expected to help the startups gain, due to the revisionof the presumptive taxation scheme, under which the income ceiling has been doubled from 1crore rupees to 2 crore rupees.

The government is also establishing a mechanism SETU (self-employment and talentutilisation), a techno-financial, incubation, and facilitation program to support startup businessesand other self-employment activities, particularly in technology-driven areas.

Additionally, section 10AA of the Special Economic Zones (SEZ) Act has been extended to2020, enabling technology units to set up and commence operations in SEZs. The rates on IThardware products have also undergone a considerable change under the Central Board ofExcise and Customs.

While most of the announcements made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at January's "StartupIndia Standup India" action plan summit were fulfilled, no decisions were made on two majordemands: Exit policy for the new companies, and finalising listing norms for them in the stockmarkets for mopping up resources.

The startups hope that these two demands will be considered by the Indian law makers beforethey pass the budget by March 31, when the Indian financial year concludes. Even the ReserveBank of India's plans to allow startups to tap foreign funds without any restrictions was notmentioned, but may be included in the budget during discussions in the coming days.

The Indian startups welcomed the announcements as they aimed to promote entrepreneurship

and create a favourable business environment in the country.

U2opia Mobile CEO Sandeep Ganguly felt that new businesses were vital for the growth of theeconomy and the budget has reinstated a positive push to the startup ecosystem.

With the amendment to the Companies Act to ensure speedy registration and a boost tostartups, he opined that it would spearhead the growth of a robust startup environment acrossthe nation. "The tax holiday for startups for three out of five years of setting up the company willbring about a spur in opportunities," Ganguly said.

Ankita Jain, co-founder of GoPaisa.com, India's largest cashback and coupon site, said shewas "positively enthused" over the tax holiday, as the earlier policy covered no taxes for the firstthree years, which did not provide any relief for over 90 percent of startups.

Atlanta Healthcare CEO Vibhor Jain said that 2015 was year of planning and the startupsexpected 2016 to be the year of action.

"With these announcements, the government has underscored its focus on the Indian startupecosystem. A tax holiday and the lowering of the corporate IT rate to 25 percent are welcomesteps in the right direction. In addition to tax relief, we are looking forward to the ease ofregulations around startup capital, registration, and closure processes for entrepreneurs in thecountry," he added.

Prafulla Mathur, founder and CEO of WudStay, felt that with changes in taxation policies,startups will have a great opportunity to utilise these funds into further scaling its business andoperations. Also, the finance minister's decision to relax taxes on capital gains for investors willgenerate a positive sentiment amongst the venture capital community, which could helpentrepreneurs looking to raise funds.

CEO and founder of Mebelkart Rahul Agrawal said that a focus on skill development centres willcreate more employable talent and bridge the demand-supply gap in the startup ecosystem.

However, Srikumar Misra, founder and managing director of Milk Mantra, said that the budgetcould have followed up with specific incentives for entrepreneurial risk, along the lines ofentrepreneurial relief in the UK's tax structure. "The financial sector reforms fell short ofaddressing startups' needs for accessing debt capital, which needs to come to the table sooneror later," Misra pointed out.

Rajat Gandhi, founder and CEO of Faircent.com also said that, "Reducing the benefit of long-term capital gain regime to two years denies startups of the initial handholding that is very muchnecessary".

Pratik J Shah, an expert on indirect tax service and Partner of the Mumbai-based SKP Group,said that the budget was India's window to IT and startups.

"As India is slowly transforming itself into a new and improved digitally efficient country, it comesas no surprise that its digital economy has grown consistently at a pace of 10 percent per year.Currently, India has a well-established IT industry with revenues of about $160 billion, with over$100 billion from exports, and the industry employs nearly 4 million people," he said.

Given that the IT industry has traditionally enjoyed considerable preference over other industries,this budget has not failed to impress either. With an increasing share of IT service revenues, thegovernment's commitment to IT startups seems like a natural inclination.

"The budget incentives coupled with Startup India shall further attract budding developers fromaround the world to capitalise on the country's thriving human resource in this field," Shah added.2016-03-01 06:13 V L

24 Android Pay will hit the UK in March

GOOGLE’S ANDROID PAY is set to hit the UK late, bringing a the contactless and mobilepayments service to Britain ready to do battle withApple Pay.

Some loose-lipped sources from the industry sourcesrevealed the rumoured launch date, according to areport in The Telegraph , but Google has yet toconfirm any details.

Apple already has the lead on Android Pay in the UK,Having launched in Blighty way back in July. ButAndroid Pay found some success in with its US

launch back in September , so is poised to rollout the service in the UK.

Mimicking Apple Pay , Android Pay works by enabling people who hate rifling through theirwallets to pay for purchases using a smartphone loaded with Visa or MasterCard details at anNFC-enabled contactless terminal.

But things are about to get crowded in the mobile payments arena. Samsung is due to launchthe Samsung Pay contactless payments service in the UK , although the company hasn’tdivulged an official launch date. Already live in Korean and the US, Samsung Pay offerscontactless payment through NFC and Magnetic Secure Transmission, a technology gainedthrough the acquisition of LoopPay.

Unlike Apple Pay and Android Pay, this means that Samsung Pay will work with older paymentterminals without NFC functionality, potentially giving it much more reach with UK retailers.

But Apple has enjoyed a pretty successful rollout of Apple Pay probably due to offering themarket a limited selection of smartphones all running the same or very similar versions of iOS.While Google has a bigger challenge owing to the complicated and fragmented mass ofhandsets running Android with multiple and customised versions of the operating system.

With ever more retailers accepting contactless and mobile payments , we’re likely to seeincreasing numbers of people waving their smartphones over terminals to pay for their fancycoffees and artisan breads. Oh joy.µ2016-03-01 04:53

25 Teenaged boy wins technology STEM competition for girls

A BOY CALLED Josh has won a competitionaimed at pretty girls with technological leanings.

We cannot even begin to work out how it can bethat a chap can win a competition pitched atladies and designed to encourage women totake part in the male-dominated world oftechnology.

#prettycuriouschallenge insult 2fold: eventmarketed to girls with title emphasis on looks;select boy as winner to solidify inadequacy — Caila Brander (@cailabrander) February 27,2016

The EDF Energy Pretty Curious competition appears to have had some strong applicants. Joshcame up with something that uses thumbstick motion to power a gamepad. This is very neat.Four runners up, another of whom is a fella, did less well in the competition and walked awaywith fewer gongs and less glory.

"Thank you all for voting in the Pretty Curious Challenge*. Out of our five amazing finalists the

winner with the most votes was Josh. The Pad Generator has won the grand prize of an iPad Airand an Experience Day with Fab Lab London where he will see how ideas are prototyped.Congratulations Josh," said EDF Energy.

"Our four runners-up, Emily, Anna, Kiyo and Maegan, have each won a Deluxe LittleBits kit. "

If we look at this as a lure to encourage ladies into technology, we would be inclined to call it afailure. EDF Energy told The Telegraph that, while previous Pretty Curious events have beenaimed at ladies, this has recently been expanded to let chaps in.

EDF Energy created the #PrettyCuriousChallenge to encourage more gender diversity in#STEM -- but a boy still won. https://t.co/HyNbXQYV2w — The Mary Sue (@TheMarySue) February 27, 2016

"Following last year's #PrettyCurious programme, which aimed to inspire girls about careers inSTEM, EDF Energy launched a social media competition open to all children called the#PrettyCuriousChallenge," the company told the paper in a statement.

"We had a number of girls and boys taking part in the challenge to create a ‘connected home'product resulting in three female and two male finalists. The winner was selected via a publicvote based on the merit of their idea. "

That's cool, then, but someone needs to tell Twitter and the Pretty Curious website. There is a lotof outrage about the choice of winner, and all because he has a ruddy wang. µ

* The INQUIRER did not vote2016-03-01 04:53

26 What you missed in tech last week: Galaxy S7, Intel 5G,

Windows 10 UpdategateMOBILE WORLD CONGRESS (MWC)descended on Barcelona last week, bringing theGalaxy S7 , LG G5 and Huawei MateBook , whilefirms including Intel revealed plans to start the ballrolling on the rollout of 5G.

Still, while some of the team were out coveringthe latest gadgets from the big guys, the wheel oftech news continued to turn here in the UK.

It's nearly eight months since Windows 10 firstarrived on the scene, but it continues to makeheadlines.

There was another twist in the ongoing Updategate saga last week after it was revealed thatMicrosoft is shoving more full-page ads onto Windows 10 PCs. HP wasn't Windows 10'sbiggest fan last week, either, blaming a 12 percent slump in revenue on the slow uptake ofMicrosoft's latest software.

Apple also made headlines last week, despite its lack of presence in Barcelona. The firm wasforced to make a tweak to the El Capitan operating system after a font in the latest version ofMac OS X made you seem something of a dinkle fan.

We've rounded up the top 10 stories from the past week below.

Updategate: Microsoft splashes Tomb Raider ad over Windows 10 lock screens

Reality bytes

Apple takes steps so El Capitan doesn't look like a dick in public

We tried to post a dinkle joke here but we couldn't get it up

Google takes on hateful hackers with free DDoS prevention tool

Spiteful hackers are about to get neutered with Project Shield

AMD says new G-Series SoCs offer 64-bit x86 performance for a 32-bit ARM price

AMD brings Excavator core to embedded chips and adds a new low-end LX family

Linux users campaign after Microsoft 'neglects' Skype with a week of downtime

Characteristic of a systematic decline, claim campaigners

Hollywood wins unconditional surrender in war against Blu-ray and DVD rippers

SlySoft raises the white flag

Windows 7 and 8.1 Embedded Intel Skylake users will need to upgrade in 2017

Firm brings policy into line with standard Windows 10

HP Inc accelerates job cuts as Windows 10 and Skylake cause slump in earnings

Cuts will be three times as quick

Boston Dynamics unveils, and clobbers, a terrifying new robot

Atlas thugged

Canonical chooses Dragonboard 410c as reference for Ubuntu Core x64

Core blimey!2016-03-01 04:53

27 The 2016 Data Center 100

Pressures from major trends driving IT - think cloud,mobility, software-defined everything, and the need tocontrol costs - are not only changing how businesses andtheir users use IT, but are also impacting how the IT worlddesigns, builds, and runs data centers.

As the pace of IT change quickens, finding the rightexperts to help build and operate data centers is crucial.The Data Center 100 list is one place to start. By nomeans an exhaustive list of partners, it instead looks atrepresentative companies who can be counted on for helpwith data center infrastructure, tools, virtualizationcapabilities, services, and design.

2016 marks the sixth year that CRN has compiled theData Center 100. The idea behind the annual list is toshine a light on the key technology providers that are powering today's data center to givesolution providers some guidance when selecting the technologies needed to round out anefficient infrastructure.

Here we present the 2016 Data Center 100 across five categories (the lists will be publishedthroughout the week):

Infrastructure: The hardware and software on which the data center is built.

Tools: Software and hardware for monitoring and managing data centers.

Virtualization: Technologies for virtualizing parts of the data center to turn them into services.

Services Providers: The cloud, co-location, software, storage, compute, and other resourcescustomers can use in lieu of purchasing their own assets.

Designers & Builders: Those responsible for ensuring that the right mix of IT, power, andcooling equipment is laid out.

2016 Data Center 100: 20 Designers And Builders

Part one of CRN's Data Center 100 looks at data center designers and builders that areessential to getting data center projects started and making sure they are ready for move-in asexpected.

2016 Data Center 100: 20 Data Center Tool Providers

Part two of CRN's Data Center 100 looks at tool providers that provide the keys to making datacenters run efficiently and serve both internal and external customers.2016-03-01 04:03 Joseph F.

28 iOS 9.3 update fixes iPhones borked by date change bug

APPLE HAS RELEASED a new beta of iOS 9.3 thatincludes a fix for 64-bit iPhones and iPads brickedwhen the date was set to 1 January 1970.

No, we're not sure why you'd do this either, but itemerged earlier this month that changing the date haswreaked havoc on handfuls of Reddit users who nowhave an expensive Apple-branded brick on theirhands.

iOS 9.3 beta 4, released to developers this week,means that the date on the iPhone or iPad can't be

set beyond 31 December 2000 at 7pm ET, or 1 January 2001 at 12.00am GMT, putting an endto the 1970 bug, shown off in the video below.

As reported at MacRumours , the update also brings bricked devices affected by the bug backto life.

One of the website's commenters wrote: "This update fixed the 1970 date bug. Had two retailunits stuck in boot loops to do some pricks setting the date to 1970 and restoring in DFU modedid not help. But restorting [sic] to this beta update made both devices go back to normal. "

Given that the latest software isn't yet available to all, there's a quick trick to ensure you don'tbork your iPhone for good if you simply can't resist changing the date to 1 January 1970. Asavvy Reddit user said that letting the battery drain to zero or disconnecting it from the devicewill solve the problem.

It's still unclear when iOS 9.3 will be made available to all, but the report claimed that thesoftware's beta testing period is nearing the end. This suggests that it could debut alongside theiPhone 5SE and iPad Air 3 at Apple's mooted 15 March event.

The latest beta release also includes small changes such as a new Night Shift icon and new staricons next to track names in the Music app. µ2016-03-01 07:33

29 Event: Uganda Social Media Awards

The 3 rd Annual Social Media Awards (SMA) is here again. The Uganda SMA honors the best

of social media, recognizing the people andorganizations from the likes of; Topowa, Share acoke, The Pearl Guide, MTN Uganda,URA, Katoto and so much more from differentcategories , who are producing real-time shortform content across Twitter , Facebook ,YouTube , Instagram , Vine, Snap-chat and therest of the social Web, with their esteemedpartners from Facebook, Google , WebGrowthAcademy, Fenon Entertainment, Trace andOpera. The ceremony will take place in Kampalaat the Serena Hotel this month as part of theInaugural Digital Marketing Conference.

Categories:

Best Blog

Determined by statistics and looking at the Bloggers dashboard to map views and reach,aesthetics and blog design are considered, writing style and content and whether the blog setout to give its declared audience what they wanted in a manner that also considered spreadingthe content through use of social media.

Best Brand

Social media accounts or campaigns dedicated to promoting consumer-facing brands.Objectives may include new product launches, offers and promotions and building a strong fanbase. Kindly submit a brand story for your brand on social media include the following metrics.Social media likes on face-book, views on you-tube and followers on IG and Twitter.

Include engagement graphs over the period Jan – Dec 2015. Highlight what you feel was thebest campaign for your brand for the year.

Best Fast Moving Consumer Goods Brand (FMCG) on Social Media

This awards honors the best use of social media in a marketing campaign by a food/Alcoholicsor beverage brand. Campaign objectives may include the launch of a new beverage, theopening of a restaurant, the promotion of a sustainable food brand and more.

Best Financial Brand on Social Media

This award honors brands and organizations in the financial services industry who use socialand digital media in the most effective and creative ways to create a positive and seamlessexperience for existing users and to gain trust and loyalty from potential/ attracting new users.Insurance companies, Banks, credit cards, money management and financial services areeligible for this award.

Best in Technology on Social Media

Consumer electronics, telecommunication services and technology brands are eligible for thisaward. Objectives include product launches, encouraging brand loyalty, promotions and dealsand thought leadership initiatives.

Best Integrated Social Media Campaign

This award honors the most effective and creative campaign spanning multiple digital and socialplatforms. Entry should describe how content was modified and enhanced for each platform,worked together to create a unifying message and succeeded in meeting its goals.

Best Media/News Outlet

This award recognizes the most effective use of social media to disseminate news and

information. Submissions for both coverage of specific news events and for overall performancewill be accepted.

Best Social Good Campaign

This category honors a brand or non-profit’s excellence in running a Social Good Campaign.Campaign objectives may include increasing awareness for a cause, inspiring action for acause, crowd funding for a social good project and promoting philanthropic work.

Best Use of Social Media by a State body / Individual

Open to government bodies, Parastatals, Civil service Organizations and more- Show preferredsocial media platforms and how these have been effective in driving change for the collectivegood or achieving set goals.

Best Video / YouTube Campaign

This category honors the most creative and effective incorporation of video content in a socialmedia marketing campaign. Extra points if it was marketed and run on YouTube.

Best Customer Care Across Social Media

This award recognizes companies that are using social media to enhance their customerexperience. Specific examples are encouraged. Judging criteria include:

Innovation & Best Mobile App

Retail and e-commerce brands, e-commerce platforms and retail publications are eligible forthis award. Objectives include exclusive deals to incentive social sharing, engaging existingcustomers and driving new traffic.

Social Media for Small Business

This award honors the best small business use of social media to engage with and share usefulcontent as well as effectively sell a product embraced by the public. Please share a presentationof your business and its growth pattern on social media. Please include – the percentage ofsales you can attribute to social media.

Vote for your nominee in each of the category.

The ceremony will have Neil Pursey; CEO & Founder Webgrowth Academy, Justin Anyona;Agency Manager Google Inc, Jo Crawshaw; Senior Marketing & PR Manager Sub-SaharanAfrica Opera Software and Naheed Hirji; Partnerships Manager Facebook who will be thespeakers of the ceremony .

Ng’endo Machua; digital strategist and a copywriter, Richard Zulu; founder and lead at Outbox,Barbara Birungi; founder of Women In Technology Uganda and Badru Ntege; CEO of NFTConsult Limited will be the judges of the ceremony .

See the rules for the SMA .2016-03-01 05:45 Opportunities

30 Microsoft trashes plans to bring Android apps to Windows

10MICROSOFT HAS pulled the plug on Project Astoria, a tool that enabled developers to portAndroid apps to Windows 10. Instead, it will focus its efforts on tools to migrate iOS andexisting Win32 desktop applications into Windows Store apps.

The company detailed its ‘Bridges' strategy at the Build 2015 developer conference ahead ofthe Windows 10 release. Microsoft said that as part of its overall developer strategy it will

introduce toolkits that let developers reuse existingapplication code by porting mobile apps fromAndroid and iOS to the Windows Store, as well asexisting apps written with. Net and Win32 APIs.

Microsoft has now revised this strategy and isditching the Windows Bridge for Android, otherwiseknown as Project Astoria, while pushing ahead withthe Windows Bridge for iOS (Project Islandwood) andProject Centennial to migrate existing Win32 and. Netapps to the Windows Store.

"We received a lot of feedback that having two Bridge technologies to bring code from mobileoperating systems to Windows was unnecessary, and the choice between them could beconfusing," said Kevin Gallo, director of programme management for the Windows DeveloperPlatform, on the Building Apps for Windows blog .

"We have carefully considered this feedback and decided that we will focus our efforts on theWindows Bridge for iOS and make it the single Bridge option for bringing mobile code to allWindows 10 devices, including Xbox and PCs.

"For those developers who spent time investigating the Android Bridge, we strongly encourageyou to take a look at the iOS Bridge and Xamarin as great solutions. "

The Xamarin reference is to Microsoft's announcement this week that it will acquire Xamarin , adeveloper of cross-platform mobile development tools that enable programmers to build nativeiOS, Android, Mac and Windows apps using the C# language.

Gallo explained that this is all part of Microsoft's vision to make Windows the best developmentplatform regardless of which technologies are used.

"Developers can not only reach all Windows 10 devices, but with Xamarin they can now use alarge percentage of their C# code to deliver a fully native mobile app experience for iOS andAndroid," he said.

"Xamarin's approach enables developers to take advantage of the productivity and power of.Net to develop mobile apps and to use C# to write to the full set of native APIs and mobilecapabilities provided by each platform. "2016-03-01 07:33

31 Ofcom holds back from ordering BT Openreach break-up

but tells firm to share network with rivalsUK TELECOMS WATCHDOG Ofcom has called formore reform at BT in its Strategic Review of DigitalCommunications, but has stopped short ofrecommending the break-up of BT's Openreachinfrastructure arm.

The regulator called for BT to open up its network sothat competitors can more easily connect fibre tohomes and offices directly, rather than just calling forthe formal separation of Openreach from BT to createan independent company.

"Openreach will be required to open up its telegraph poles and ‘ducts', the small, undergroundtunnels that carry telecoms lines. Using these, rival providers will be able to build their own fibrenetworks connected directly to homes and offices," said Ofcom in its conclusion.

"Openreach must make it much easier for competitors to access this network, and providecomprehensive data on the nature and location of its ducts and poles. "

Ofcom also called for an industry structure that will give the watchdog more power to interveneand regulate.

The organisation claimed that this approach would "promote large-scale rollout of new ultrafastbroadband networks based on cable and fibre lines as an alternative to the partly copper-basedtechnologies currently being planned by BT".

Ofcom described its proposals for deeper regulation instead of fundamental change as a "newmodel for Openreach", despite its admission that "the evidence from Ofcom's review showsOpenreach still has an incentive to make decisions in the interests of BT, rather than BT'scompetitors, which can lead to competition problems".

"Openreach's governance lacks independence from BT Group. The wider company hasretained control over Openreach's decision-making and the budget that is spent on the network,and other telecoms companies have not been consulted sufficiently on investment plans thataffect them," the report said.

"For these reasons, Ofcom has decided it is necessary to overhaul Openreach's governanceand strengthen its independence from BT. In future, Openreach needs to take its own decisionson budget, investment and strategy, such as the deployment of new networks.

"Openreach management should be required to serve all wholesale customers equally, andconsult them on its investment plans. There will also be greater transparency over how costs andassets are allocated between Openreach and the rest of BT. "

Ofcom will prepare proposals later this year to outline how these changes will be implemented.The new model might require Openreach to become a ring-fenced, wholly-owned subsidiary ofBT Group with its own board members.

"If necessary, Ofcom reserves the right to require BT to spin off Openreach as an entirelyseparate legal entity with its own shareholders," the regulator said.

Not surprisingly, BT was fast out of the trap with a statement that "welcomed" the alternatives tosplitting off Openreach, after the firm had grovelingly promised "reform" of Openreach inSeptember .

"Ofcom has today explained why breaking up BT would not lead to better service or moreinvestment and that structural separation would be a last resort. We welcome those comments,"said BT.

"The focus now needs to be on a strengthened but proportionate form of the current model andwe have put forward a positive proposal that we believe can form the basis for furtherdiscussions with Ofcom and the wider industry. "

Others in the industry weren't quite so effusive. Alastair Masson, a client partner at NTT DataUK, was unusually forthright in his response, describing it as "little more than a list of low-impactmeasures to stimulate high-cost competition, rather than tackling the issue of Openreach andBT's influence on the wider market".

He added: "Not only does it neglect to address the imminent competition decision on Three'stakeover of O2, it misses a huge opportunity to move away from the stovepiped view ofcommunications too often used in the UK. When it comes to analysing market movements,context is everything.

"High-speed broadband should not just be offered by industry giants BT and Virgin Media.Smaller operators should provide it too. They should also be able to do it without having tocommit to unnecessary physical infrastructure rollouts. The whole point of unbundling was toavoid the need for competing infrastructure. "

MPs may also be disappointed. Many had called for BT to be formally broken up, blaming thecompany for not rolling out high-speed internet access comprehensively or fast enough. Sky,TalkTalk and Vodafone had also called for firmer action from Ofcom. µ2016-03-01 07:33

32 US authorities used students to hack into Tor

THE US COURTS have confirmed that theDepartment of Defence is not immune to employingstudents, and used a gaggle of them from CarnegieMellon to find a way to crack into privacy alternativeTor.

We would expect students to be against this kind ofthing, but who knows these days? People like achallenge and there are plenty who would supportefforts to crack Tor. The Russians are rather keen , forexample.

A report on The Guardian said that the recently released court papers show a clear trail betweenthe government and the research. The students were successful in some cases, and at least onewas able to stumble on someone related to the infamous Silk Road swap shop.

It appears that Tor was aware that something was going on, and made an effort to hide theidentity of Tor users, according to The Guardian .

Vice magazine's Motherboard is a bit more blunt in its report , saying that Carnegie Mellonadmitted that its students did some work on the side, and that it has nothing more to say on thesubject. We reported last year that the FBI was accused of funding such activity.

"The Tor Project has learned more about last year's attack by Carnegie Mellon researchers onthe hidden service subsystem," said Tor in a blog post at the time .

"Apparently, these researchers were paid by the FBI to attack hidden services users in a broadsweep, and then sift through their data to find people whom they could accuse of crimes. "

The university said at the time that it does have some relations with the authorities, but that newsreports were inaccurate.

"Carnegie Mellon includes the Software Engineering Institute, which is a federally fundedresearch and development centre established specifically to focus on software-related securityand engineering issues," the university said.

"One of the missions of the Institute's CERT division is to research and identify vulnerabilities insoftware and computing networks so that they may be corrected.

"In the course of its work, the university from time to time is served with subpoenas requestinginformation about research it has performed. The university abides by the rule of law, complieswith lawfully issued subpoenas and receives no funding for its compliance. "

Carnegie Mellon is sticking to this line, according to Motherboard. Tor was morecommunicative, telling reporters that the authorities just cannot peel its skin back despite theirbest efforts.

"The Tor network is secure and has only rarely been compromised. The Software EngineeringInstitute at Carnegie Mellon compromised the network in early 2014 by operating relays andtampering with user traffic," the organisation said.

"That vulnerability, like all other vulnerabilities, was patched as soon as we learned about it. TheTor network remains the best way for users to protect their privacy and security when

communicating online. " µ

To hear more about security challenges, the threats they pose and how to combat them, sign upfor The INQUIRER sister site Computing's Enterprise Security and Risk Managementconference , taking place on 24 November.2016-03-01 07:33

33 Google Updates: AMPed up, F.luxed up and Project Astoria

cannedAFTER NOTING the arrival of fF.lux as a rootedAndroid app earlier this week, news now reaches theWeek in Google desk (you can call us TWIGgy) thatan upcoming version of the Android Support Libraryincludes a day/night mode that allows developers touse the same technology we've already seen inGoogle Play Books to turn the screen to a moregentle hue.

Meanwhile, over at Nostromo, Microsoft has officiallyconfirmed what we had predicted for a while: thereare to be no Android App ports for the Windows Universal 10 app Metro platform runtimewindow thing. Project Astoria has failed to find a suitable way to implement Android Bridge toport apps, and has put the kibosh on the hope of rescuing Windows Mobile 10 by offeringrebundles of the apps that people want. Get your sad face emoticon out and prepare for moreJohn Hurt apps.

There have been two big updates for media outlets this week. First up is the expansion ofProject Shield , which protects news outlets, particularly those with dissident voices, from DDoShacks. It has now been rolled out to a wider range of websites and is available free of charge.

The launch of Google's Accelerated Mobile Pages initiative is finally here after being previewedlast year. AMP is already in use at several major news outlets, such as the BBC and Metro , toprovide instant news feeds through a code plug-in.

Finally this week, there are updates for Google+ for Android, which now pre-renders pages(possibly using AMP) so that all six readers get a better experience.

There's some tweaks in Google Docs et al too. Now, in addition to being able to voice dictateinto documents, you can give commands, making Google Docs a potentially worthwhilealternative to commercial products like Dragon.

S'all she wrote, Holmes. µ2016-03-01 07:33

34 Security Think Tank: Human factor key to access control

The modern business environment is no longer a static self-contained area, allnicely enclosed in a physical, logically discrete and easily controlled space.

We have an increasingly diverse, mobile workforce and have been adopting equally flexible ITsystems to accommodate the resulting needs of all this change.

Whether it is mobile devices, online or cloud services, or remote access to back-end service,they all pose increasing challenges when it comes to access control .

In times gone by, we had to manage using multiple sign-ins to multiple platforms to handle anincreasing number of discrete systems. This then became handled through a single domain andlog-in. Once authentication was complete, the user could access whichever systems orapplications they were authorised for.

But things have changed and our mobile and flexible workforce, systems and platforms may nolonger be owned by us, as we use a greatly increased array over a wider and more connectedworkforce.

This presents us with a fresh set of challenges. Identifying what some of the key mistakes thatcan and have been made will help us understand how best to increase our own resilience andsecurity.

Wherever your information is stored and wherever there is a need to access that information, itis vital that the information asset owner (IAO) is involved in setting up the access control policy.

So that the asset is properly understood, assessed and access is on a need-to-know basis. Ifaccess is required to any online data storage from mobile devices, it is vital that we understandwhether the access to the device is able to provide an appropriate level of security.

For instance, many mobile devices only require a 4 digit PIN , whereas a corporate accesspolicy may require a more complex access code. Should that device then be given access tothat online data storage?2016-03-01 07:33 Mike Gillespie

35 Apple reportedly shifts iPhone 5SE and iPad Pro Mini

unveiling to 21 MarchAPPLE IS REPORTEDLY planning to unleashthe iPhone 5SE and smaller iPad Pro tablet at anevent on 21 March, not 15 March as previouslythought.

So says Buzzfeed , which has heard from sneakyinside sources that Apple has settled on 21March to show off a handful of new products. Thisis the day before the company is due to go headto head with the FBI in court.

The star of the show will be the iPhone 5SE ,Apple's first 4in iPhone since the iPhone 5C. Thehandset will reportedly look similar to the iPhone 5S, but with a curved glass front similar to thatseen on Apple's latest top-end smartphones. It will be offered in the same colour options ofSilver, Space Grey, Gold and Rose Gold, according to reports.

We can also expect the iPhone 5SE to feature the same A8 and M8 processors seen inside theiPhone 6, an NFC chip for Apple Pay, Bluetooth 4.2, VoLTE, 802.11ac WiFi, and 8MP and1.2MP cameras complete with autofocus, support for larger panoramic images and the LivePhotos feature that debuted on the iPhone 6S.

A new iPad is also tipped to appear on 21 March. Previous rumours had pointed to Applelaunching the iPad Air 3, but new reports claimed that the firm plans to reveal a smaller iPad Protablet.

The mooted 9.7in device, which will potentially launch as the iPad Pro Mini, will offer nearidentical specs to the bigger 12.9in iPad Pro, according to the rumours, with an A9X processorand display technology that supports the Apple Pencil stylus. Apple is also said to be prepping adownsized version of the Smart Cover keyboard attachment.

There's chatter that the 9.7in tablet will feature rear-facing LED flash for improved photos in lowlight, and additional speaker grilles to better match the audio quality of Apple's 12.9in tablet.

Apple seems keen to work The INQUIRER team hard on 21 March, as this is apparently not allthe firm has up its sleeve. The Apple Watch 2 is unlikely to be unveiled, but the firm reportedly

plans to show off some new Apple Watch options.

Expect multiple new colours for the rubber Sport Bands, additional colours for the line of Hermèsbands, a black version of the Milanese Loop, and an additional band range made from a newmaterial.2016-03-01 07:33

36 HP Inc accelerates job cuts as Windows 10 and Skylake

cause slump in earningsEVEN MORE job cuts are expected at HP Inc afterthe company reported some fairly shocking Q1 resultsthat saw revenue down 12 percent on the previousquarter year on year.

The $12.2bn revenue in the three months to the end ofJanuary represent a five percent real-terms drop evenallowing for the recent currency fluctuations.

The Personal Systems group was down 13 percentyear on year with a 3.1 percent operating margin.Total units sold were down 13 percent, eight percent

in laptops and 13 percent in desktops.

Sales of hardware have fallen across the board owing to a perfect storm of fluctuating exchangerates and the launch of Windows 10, and the Intel Skylake chip range, the latter two causingmany potential buyers to wait before purchasing .

So says a report out of TrendForce, which claims that the of Windows 10 in the third quarter andIntel's Skylake CPU in Q4 may have influenced a delay in purchases of notebooks,compounding falling exchange rates which have made laptop upgrades an expensive treat inEurope and emerging markets.

That said, the forecast now that these two factors are realised is set to improve. TrendForceanalyst Anita Wang said: "HP and Lenovo will still be rivals for the top spot in the notebookmarket during 2016. HP has a good chance of holding the most market share this year andmaintaining its leadership position because of the relatively stronger US market. "

Printing revenue was down 17 percent, hardware down 20 percent and supplies down 14percent, despite growing criticism of the printing industry for the huge profit margins on printersupplies. Printing supplies represent 80 percent of the unit's profits.

HP Inc confirmed as part of the announcement that 3,000 people will now leave the business bythe end of the 2016 fiscal year, instead of over three years as originally predicted.

The old HP business before the split predicted that 33,300 jobs would go over three years,1,200 of which would be in the new HP Inc during 2016.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise , the other side of the new business, is expected to report figures on3 March. µ2016-03-01 07:33

37 Google's self-driving car in prang after assuming priority

over a busA GOOGLE CAR decided recently that it should have priority over a bus, then found that the busdidn't agree and crashed into it.

This has been a learning experience for the car and, presumably, Google. A report from the

California Department of Motor Vehicles (CDMV)doesn't look great for the Google car, which comesacross as a confused and self-important road user.But at least no-one was hurt.

We came across the report via a friend of TheINQUIRER 's who provided us with the link. This led toa document showing that the incident happened onValentine's Day. Perhaps the car had its eye on aconnected fridge or something.

The accident involved Google's self-driven vehicleand a human-controlled series 2300 New Flyer articulated bus.

Google's four-year-old Nexus introduced itself to the larger, less-likely-to-give-way bus as itsought to avoid some unexpected sandbags. We would have preferred two men carrying a largepane of glass, but fate controls itself.

It doesn't sound like a scene from The Fast and the Furious films, but something undoubtedlyhappened. The Google car, moving at a speed of 2mph, pulled out as a bendy bus, travelling ata mind-blowing 15mph, was approaching.

This was one of a series of incidents in the history of the 'smartish' car. The Lexus suffered abump at the front and the side, and damage to one of the sensors. We reckon that the sensorprobably bore the weight of the shame and took itself out. That is just a theory, however.

This not the first time that a shame finger has been pointed at a Google car , and probably willnot be the last.

We have asked Google whether it wants to provide a statement to explain the decision andassumption made by its car. The firm may stall, however, and give us the old 'no comment'.

The CDMV papers were filed and signed on 23 February. µ

The INQUIRER 's sister site Computing will be holding an Internet of Things Business Summit in London on May 12. Attendance is free to qualifying end users and places are already goingfast. Visit the event page to see the agenda and to sign up. µ2016-03-01 07:33

38 Updategate: Microsoft forces Windows 10 Insiders to leave

feedback regularlyMICROSOFT IS to start insisting that members of thefirm's Insider programme leave feedback on a regularbasis.

The option to turn off nag screens asking for feedbackis being removed starting with Build 14271, which iscurrently rolling out. This means that users of the buildwill be asked for their opinion at Microsoft'sconvenience, not their own.

It's another first from the people that brought you in-OS advertising .

Windows Insider boss Gabe Aul (say it fast and it's a homosexual sphere) explained in a blogpost : "Getting feedback is an integral part of the Windows Insider programme. After each buildupgrade or after certain activities, Windows will often ask for feedback. The answers to thesequestions [are] used by our engineering teams to understand how Windows Insiders feel about aparticular experience or a particular build.

"Starting with Build 14271 and newer, the frequency in which Windows will ask for your feedbackwill be locked to 'Automatically (Recommended)' in the Settings app and managed by theWindows Insider programme. "

He added that those who don't want to put up with this sort of nonsense will have to roll back toan older edition of the Insider programme and turn off updates. This, of course, defeats theobject of being an Insider. But, you know, it's an option. A stupid option, but an optionnonetheless.

Reporting transgressions in common decency among Microsoft initiatives is like shooting fish ina barrel right now, with a machine gun, and a miniature barrel and the fish is a tuna. The latestone appears to have bypassed one of the oldest unwritten rules of the internet.

An open beta is released as an invitation to people to try a nearly finished piece of software andoffer feedback. The key word there is 'offer'. We've never heard before of anyone releasing abeta programme where it's compulsory to leave feedback.

The counterargument to this would be: 'If you're using software that's free anyway, why would youjoin the Insider programme and have a less stable version if you weren't going to offerfeedback?'

The counterargument to that is: 'Why is Microsoft enforcing its will on people yet again when thepublic relations surrounding Windows 10 is already a pile of toilet?'

The counterargument to that is: 'Because Microsoft.' µ2016-03-01 07:33

39 Twitter, Internet react after Leonardo DiCaprio finally wins

OscarsAs Hollywood gathered for the 88 th AcademyAwards to honour the past year of filmmaking, noone saw this coming, “ Leonardo DiCaprio ” winsan OSCAR Award after five previousunsuccessful nominations from his role in “TheRevenant.”

Mail Online reports that, the emotional 41-year-old star led the winners at the glittering 88thAcademy Awards in Beverly Hills, which saw Room’s Brie Larson take home Best Actress andSpotlight scooping the coveted Best Picture prize.

“Making The Revenant was about man’s relationship to the natural world, climate change is real.It is happening right now. It is the most urgent threat facing our entire species and we need towork collectively together and stop procrastinating. We need to support leaders around theworld who do not speak for the big polluters or the big corporations but for all people.” Says Leo,during his acceptance speech

“Let us not take our planet for granted. I do not take tonight for granted.” As he concluded hisemotional speech.

Leonardo DiCaprio’s win for Best Actor in “The Revenant,” generated more than 440,000Tweets per minute, the most-Tweeted minute of an Oscars telecast ever, beating out theprevious record of 255,000 Tweets per minute, set when Ellen DeGeneres Tweeted this starstudded selfie back in 2014.

The internet also exploded upon Leo’s winning and celebrated with some pretty clevermemes…..check them out:

Fellow celebrities also came and congratulated the “The Revenant” star

We’re also happy for Leonardo DiCaprio, congratulation on winning your first Academy Award.

[ Twitter Blog ]2016-03-01 05:00 Nathan Ernest

40 Kaspersky Labs rolls out targeted threat detection platform

for enterprisesKaspersky Labs is expanding its enterprisesecurity portfolio with the addition of a new threatdetection platform designed to help businessesspot targeted attacks against their network.

According to the security firm, the Anti TargetedAttack Platform monitors and analyzes datacollected from different points of the corporate ITinfrastructure, including network activity from weband email. It does so by utilizing network andendpoint sensors and Kaspersky's own sandboxengine technology.

Network data is then processed through machinelearning technology and combined with verdicts

from different analysis engines to determine whether suspicious events are indeed maliciousand an alert to IT staff should be made.

Kaspersky admits that targeted attacks represent less than one percent of the entire threatlandscape. But what these types of attacks lack in frequency they make up for in severity.Kaspersky says even the most unsophisticated targeted attacks can prove successful andwreak havoc on an enterprise network.

"As we developed our Anti Targeted Attack Platform, we understood that a working solutioncannot stand apart from well-known and highly efficient security approaches," said NikitaShvetsov, Kaspersky Lab's CTO. "At the same time, new corporate threats demand newtechnology and intelligence an order of magnitude more complex than our existing solutions. "

Kaspersky is also launching a new assessment service that tests a company's security standingagainst a variety of attack methods. The service includes penetration testing and applicationsecurity assessment.2016-03-01 05:00 Natalie Gagliordi

41 The business processes behind services management

Where and how are corporate IT services best located: in-house oroutsourced?

Enterprises are constantly re-evaluating their IT sourcing using outcome-focused commercialmodels. In-sourcing allows an organisation to maintain in-house technical teams or large, single-source suppliers.

It can also be more adaptable by exploiting competitive market behaviour, which can cut costsand capitalise on innovation.

But Gartner published a study of IT sourcing capabilities in 2014, which found only 11% ofrespondents mastered their approach to sourcing. The remaining 89% needed to improvecompetencies and significantly raise their maturity levels to manage multi-sourcing successfully.2016-03-01 06:21 Bernt Ostergaard

42 DDoS attack threat cannot be ignored

Distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks are becoming a genuine threat tocompanies with an active online presence.

Originally, such attacks were seen as little more than an annoyance, but with more and morecompanies evolving into online services, they are having major repercussions. It is now not acase of if a company will be hit by a DDoS attack, but when.

In a DDoS attack, a digital service or website is forced offline by being overwhelmed withprocess requests from multiple sources. This presents a major challenge to ensure people canaccess data and services online.

The size and frequency of DDoS attacks are also on the increase. According to Arbor Networks’annual Worldwide Infrastructure Security Report , the largest attack reported in the past yearwas 500 Gbps , representing a 60 times increase in 11 years.

“What is significant is that the average of just under 2Gbps, which we see across tens ofthousands of attacks, is enough to overwhelm most business internet connections,” says GarySockrider, principal security technologist at Arbor Networks.

The Irish National Lottery and several Irish government websites were recently knocked offline byDDoS attacks, preventing people from buying lottery tickets over the internet. Similarly, the BBCwebsite was taken down by a DDoS attack last year, and its associated iPlayer media platformwas unavailable during that time.

The website for a Manchester casino was also taken offline by a DDoS attack before theowners were contacted by the perpetrators, who demanded a ransom in bitcoin .

“In many ways, a company may not even realise it is under a DDoS attack, because it manifestsitself in very strange ways,” says Mark Crosbie, trust and security manager, Europe, Middle Eastand Africa, for Dropbox . “They may see an uptake in service request tickets or see a millionlogging into services. It will not be clear what is happening until someone does some route-cause analysis.”2016-03-01 06:21 Peter Ray

43 Sparks of creativity as energy and digital futures collide

Very few commentators link the topics of energy and digital policy. Even fewerpolicy developers understand how they are intertwined.

Each policy is on a single track but on a collision course with the other. Both engines of theeconomy urgently need to correct their course. Knocking heads together now can circumvent aneven greater mess.

Only now are the full consequences of strategic decisions made in separate silos decades agobecoming clear. Attributing blame for current and future shortcomings is, alas, too easy, anddoesn’t add up to a plan of where we go from here. First, though, everyone needs to understandthat we have a problem.

Basically, the internet will not scale. A s demand increases, so the performance of the digitalinfrastructure will suffer and energy supply become more fragile.

Regardless of which growth forecast you believe – and most insiders bet on a doubling ofdevice numbers over the next decade – without radical overhaul, the predominant current andplanned digital access technologies (how you get connected) will consume way too muchenergy. It is an environmental/sustainability issue that demands a fresh design approach toensure the resilience of these basic utilities.

The solutions are twofold: to generate vastly more electricity or to waste far less of it oninefficient forms of digital connectivity. No one is suggesting that we put the entire economy intohibernation.

The first option – greatly increasing power generation – is decidedly unattractive as well ashugely risky in terms of the UK’s energy supply security. But current efforts to reduce demandneed rethinking.

The second option – boosting connection capacity while also using far less energy – istechnologically possible but demands a complete rethink by dominant suppliers, whether theyare in the fixed-line or mobile market or both.2016-03-01 06:21 David Brunnen

44 Updategate: Microsoft splashes Tomb Raider ad over

Windows 10 lock screensMICROSOFT IS giving the world more reasons tohate Windows 10, as another batch of lock screenadvertising appears on computers worldwide, thistime advertising the latest version of Tomb Raider.

It's not the first time that Windows 10 has shown itsWindows 10 'freeware is adware' chops on the lockscreen after an advert for Minions appeared lastmonth to a limited number of users. But this time, it'smore widespread.

So the good news is that, whatever you think of thisbehaviour, and from where we're standing Microsoft is not in a position to piss people off, youcan turn it off.

You can uncheck the box marked 'Get fun facts, tips, tricks and more on your lock screen' in yoursettings, because the 'more' is actually adverts.

Microsoft isn't doing anything wrong as such. We knew that serving adverts was going to be partof the deal, although it wasn't quite as explicit as we'd have liked.

Redmond isn't the first either. Amazon has been using its Kindle lock screens as billboards for acouple of years, charging a premium for a device without ads.

So why is this news? Because this has been biting reality for a lot of users. The seeminglywidespread nature of this ad campaign has exposed a lot more people to the true nature ofWindows 10 for the first time. It may not cost anything, but it sure ain't free.

There's nothing wrong with monetising your product through advertising, and we'd be a bithypocritical to say otherwise, but Microsoft has become insidious under Nadella, seeminglyharmless and well intentioned on the surface but stomach exploding alien beneath.

Nadella said of Windows 10 that he wanted people to go "from using Windows to lovingWindows" (and we warned you at the time that it sounded like something Mr Burns would say).

The problem is that actually we're going from 'being forced to use Windows 10, to hating whatWindows 10 represents'. µ2016-03-01 06:21

45 Apple takes steps so El Capitan doesn't look like a dick in

publicAPPLE HAS unmade a dick of itself after spotting that a font suggested that the latest version of

Mac OS X made you seem something of a dinkle fan.The slogan for the El Capitan release of the Macoperating system proudly announced: 'There's moreto love with every click', but the spacing in the fontmade the claim rather, well, pendulous.

The company has tweaked the 'click' now (which iswhat she said) with a tiny one (change that is) in theCSS code on the site, which spaces out the 'c', 'l' and'i' less suggestively. Because before that peoplemight have assumed it was a porn site or something,at least we can only assume that's the logic.

Here's the before and after gif, currently doing the rounds on Twitter.

@bathtype before & after pic.twitter.com/mcfUW3JGua — Ryan Ackermann (@naturaln0va) February 25, 2016

So a font has changed. Some will probably moan that this isn't news, but it's Friday and it's funand it takes us back to a simpler time when web addresses were a minefield for early webpioneers who didn't think it through.

Penisland.net has been around for as long as The INQ , and yet it still trades on its finereputation of customised pens and is definitely not a tourism site for a land made of dinkles. It'sworth noting that the current tagline, 'We specialise in wood', is still a bit unfortunate, althoughprobably deliberate.

Or there's Therapistfinder.com which, sadly, now diverts to a new URL but still leaves us aghastthat anyone thought it was a good idea in the first place. It reminds us of the scene in ArrestedDevelopment where Tobias becomes an 'analyst-therapist' and gets business cards made upmarked 'Analrapist'.

And finally ... according to Snopes.com it isn't true that Powergenitalia.com was a misguidedattempt by Powergen to widen its business in the European market. Nevertheless, it was thehome of a real Italian battery company for a while. Alas it has now gone. µ2016-03-01 05:14

46 iPhone 5SE price, release date, specs and rumours

2016 WILL MARK THE RETURN of the 4iniPhone in the form of the iPhone 5SE, ifspeculation is to be believed. The handset willreportedly look to those after a cheap, pint-sizediPhone, and will reportedly mimic the iPhone 5Cwith stripped-back features and a budget price.

We've rounded up everything we know about theso-called iPhone 5SE below, and we'll updatethis article as soon as we hear more.

Release date

The iPhone 5SE (or iPhone 6C, depending on what rumours you believe), will reportedly beunveiled at a launch event on 15 March , alongside the iPad Air 3 and new Apple Watch models.The 4in iPhone will reportedly go on sale just three days later on 18 March , although Appleapparently won't be putting it up for pre-order.

There's no word on a release date yet, but there's talk that the handset will go on sale in April.

Price

If rumours out of 9to5Mac are to be believed, pricing for the iPhone 5SE will start at $450 for a16GB model, the same as the iPhone 5S.

Specifications

A leaked video, if legitimate, reveals that the iPhone 5SE will have a similar design to theiPhone 6S , sporting an aluminium case and the same curved edges and antenna lines asApple's latest flagship smartphone.

A leak via Twitter tipster OnLeaks ( below ) backs this up, showing an apparent iPhone 5SEwith an all-metal design.

LOL #iPhone6c ... pic.twitter.com/0gxR4bq63n — Steve Hemmerstoffer (@stagueve) December 31, 2015

This suggests that, unlike the vibrantly coloured iPhone 5C before it, Apple's next 4in iPhone willbe available in the same space grey, silver, gold and rose gold colours as the top-endsmartphone. However, a previous report from TechWeb claimed that the iPhone 6C will featurea few bold colour options, similar to the iPhone 5C.

According to 9to5Mac , which first revealed the smartphone's likely iPhone 5SE name , thehandset will look more similar to the iPhone 5 than the newer iPhone 6S, although notes that itwill feature a curved glass front similar to that seen on Apple's latest top-end smartphones. Thisreport also points to an 8MP and 1.2MP dual camera set up, and notes that it the so-callediPhone 5SE will feature Bluetooth 4.2, VoLTE, and 802.11ac WiFi.

Previous rumours have suggested that the iPhone 6C will not include a fingerprint sensor, butthe leaked footage seems to suggest that the budget iPhone will have a Touch ID sensor, whichmeans it's likely to support Apple Pay and come with a built-in NFC chip. It's unlikely to comewith 3D Touch support, according to rumours.

Forbes reported that the iPhone 6C may have a "2.5D" display with curved edges that improvesthe tactile sensitivity of finger swipes.

Apple will apparently use an A8 processor, the same chip that appeared in the iPhone 6 andiPhone 6 Plus. If this is the case don't expect Live Photos, as this relies on Apple's newer A9processor.

However, don't get too down about it just yet, as a new report out of Bloomberg claims theiPhone 5SE will, in fact, pack the same A9 chip as the iPhone 6S , which will be paired with1GB RAM.

Online gossip suggests that the iPhone 6C will feature a 1,715mAh battery, improving on the1,500mAh offering inside the iPhone 5C.

There's also talk of 4G LTE support, and 16GB, 32GB and 64GB storage versions. µ2016-03-01 03:22

47 Apple tipped to launch 9.7in iPad Pro alongside iPhone 5SE

next monthTHE IPAD AIR 3 is apparently not a thing, according to the latest speculation which claims thatApple will launch a smaller iPad Pro tablet at its mooted 15 March launch event.

These rumours come via 9to5Mac , which has heard that Apple is planning to launch a 9.7inversion of the iPad Pro, not the iPad Air 3 as previously thought.

The smaller iPad Pro will offer near identical specs to the bigger 12.9in iPad Pro, according tothe report, which said that we can expect an A9X processor and display technology thatsupports the Apple Pencil stylus. Apple is also said to be prepping a downsized version of the

Smart Cover keyboard attachment.

We don't yet know what the 9.7in device will becalled (although we're putting our money on theiPad Pro Mini), but there's also talk of the samequad speaker setup, colour range and storageoptions as its predecessor. There's no word onprices for the tablet just yet.

Apple is also expected to announce the iPhone5SE at its rumoured 15 March event, its first 4insmartphone since the iPhone 5C.

The iPhone 5SE will apparently look similar to the iPhone 5S, according to leaked images (below ), but will feature a curved glass front similar to that seen on Apple's latest top-endsmartphones. It will be offered in the same colour options of Silver, Space Grey, Gold and RoseGold, according to reports.

We can expect the iPhone 5SE to feature the same A8 and M8 processors seen inside theiPhone 6, an NFC chip for Apple Pay, Bluetooth 4.2, VoLTE, 802.11ac WiFi, and 8MP and1.2MP cameras complete with autofocus, support for larger panoramic images and the LivePhotos feature that debuted on the iPhone 6S .

9to5Mac said that the phone will cost $450 for the 16GB model, the same as the iPhone 5S. µ2016-03-01 03:22

48 Presto review

Update : With the arrival of the new Chromecast ,accessing Presto on the big screen is mucheasier and more responsive.

In some ways, Presto was the pioneer of theAustralian streaming video market.

Launching several months before rivals Stan andNetflix , and offering a library worthy far superiorto anything Quickflix ever had, Presto was the firstreal service delivering an all-you-can-watchstreaming model in Australia.

While services like ABC iview and SBS On Demand have offered Australia a solid way to catchup on free to air TV, complete video-on-demand services have historically been somewhatlacking.

This means that the market has very quickly exploded from next to nothing last year to a highlycompetitive smorgasbord of platforms to stream from.

But while Presto was initially hamstrung by some technical limitations – streams were onlyavailable in standard definition, and there was no Airplay support for starters – recent updateshave seen the platform improve dramatically, offering a much better service that is capable ofchallenging Netflix and Stan with its offering.

It's still a fair way behind its competitors – as you'll see in our review below, but it is makinggradual advances in usability and functionality.

Working to compliment Foxtel Go and Foxtel Play , Presto initially offered users access toFoxtel's massive movie library, with streams available from all of the service's movie channels.

However, the live movie channel streams were quickly killed off, and the service has since

refocused on video on demand content.

Perhaps more exciting was the addition of television programming to the lineup. Requiring anadditional monthly fee, Foxtel leveraged its partnerships with HBO and Showtime to offer a wideselection of TV shows, from individual episodes to entire seasons, through the PrestoEntertainment portal.

Since launch, this rollout has continued to expand, with partnerships with NBC and BBCworldwide, among others. Now, Presto is offering exclusive streaming of acclaimed series likeMr. Robot and Aquarius, giving it a distinct point of difference to its rivals.

The catch, unfortunately, is that this TV content isn't automatically included in the service's price.

While Foxtel launched Presto at $20 a month for access to movies only, and then halved thatrate shortly afterwards, users who want to watch both TV and movies will need to pay $15 amonth for a bundled offering, or $10 a month for just TV or just movies.

This price premium is a definite disadvantage against newcomer Stan, which charges just $10 amonth for arguably a better lineup of content.

Netflix has a local pricing structure that offers an equivalent product for $8.99, making the $15Presto price tag slightly harder to swallow.

On the upside, Presto hasn't increased the price with the inclusion of HD streams, and as theservice is expanding to other devices, the price remains static.

When we first reviewed Presto, it was an incredibly frustrating experience to sign up, involvingbrowsers, activation emails and delayed payment detail input.

The good news is that Presto has improved the signup process. The bad news is that you can'tjust download the app on your iOS or Android device and sign up from there – you still need tohead to the browser to hand over your details.

But once you're in the browser, the signup is relatively painless. You create an account with yourname, email and password; move on to creating a PIN, sharing your date of birth and postcodebefore choosing your plan and then handing over the credit card details.

The fact that you get the first month free as a default is nice, although it isn't too hard to comeacross bundle deals offering anywhere between three and 12 months of access to Presto'slibrary.

Make no mistake, Presto is an intuitive and simple-to-use service.

Initially available via a web browser on a PC or Mac, or via an iPad app, Presto has addedsupport for Android tablets and both Android and iOS phones since launch.

Officially, the app supports all Android phone and tablet devices running Android 4.1 and above.The support page does add the caveat that user experience may not be the same across allAndroid devices, but given the range of Android devices on the market, it's not surprising thatPresto can't quality check every single device.

Presto has also launched on selected Samsung Smart TVs, as well as the soon-to-be-obsoleteTelstra T-Box.

Even better news is the fact that the platform has an app on the new Telstra TV streamer,alongside apps from Netflix and Stan, making the Telstra TV the first device to host apps from allthree services.

But while the Telstra TV was first, it's no longer the only way to access all three Aussie serviceson a big screen. Presto is now available on both the PS4 and the PS3, making Sony's consolesthe most versatile streaming boxes around.

Presto has also expanded into Android TV powered devices, meaning owners of this year'sSony Smart TVs and the Nexus Player can enjoy Presto's content lineup.

But sadly, that's the extent to which Presto apps are available. Earlier last year Presto made areselling deal with Quickflix, which would have seen the number of compatible devicesdramatically improve, but the deal was squandered by Quickflix shortly afterwards.

In the meantime you're locked to a browser or tablet screen to watch the service, or a TV viaChromecast or Airplay to an Apple TV, but more on that later.

One potential issue you'll face, especially with this rollout of new platforms, is that you can onlyhave four devices connected to the account at a time.

That's fine in itself, except if you want to change devices, you can only change one device permonth. That means accessing the new PS4 app may not be possible until next month if you'vealready got a couple of phones and a couple of tablets connected.

If you complain on social media channels, Presto may reset your device list for you. But it seemslike an amazingly shortsighted approach in today's world of multiple devices and multiplescreens.

From the web browser side of things, once you've signed into your account, you can access theentire suite of on demand movies and TV shows within a few mouse clicks.

The top of the page is made up of your navigation and search bar, allowing you to beginbrowsing by movies, TV shows or using the search function. A shortcut to your Watchlist sits nextto the search function, making it easy to find the shows and movies you've saved for laterviewing.

There's also a quick link to the Community forums for advice and help using the service(something we had to check a few times during our review, which was a little disheartening).

Just below the bar is a massive carousel filling up the bulk of your screen and pointing you to themost recent featured content.

If you scroll down, you'll see a series of collections, which seems to change fairly regularly.Expect to see things like "New to Presto", "Star packed Adren-a-thon", "Animation fixation forkids on vacation" and other themes along those lines.

For a combined subscription, the list of featured content seems to be split between both moviesand TV fairly evenly, with between four and six titles on display, and the ability to scroll if thecollection has more titles in it.

Hover over any film or TV cover, and you'll see a more detailed synopsis pop up, along with aclassification and general film information like runtime and release year, plus a rating fromPresto users.

From this window you can select to watch a movie straight away or add it to your watch list forlater viewing.

The iPad app and Android tablet versions have a similar user experience. Down the left handpanel is a navbar that offers shortcuts to the home page, TV, Movies, your Watchlist, your historyand settings.

But when you select a movie on the iPad version of the app, instead of getting a rating, Prestooffers a selection of films you may also like for Movies, or a rundown of episodes for TV shows.

Because of the design of the app on the iPad, there are more options on the screen whichmakes browsing a bit easier.

Unfortunately, the actual viewing experience isn't always good. If you start streaming any oldercontent recorded in a 4:3 aspect ratio, you'll end up looking at a box with black bars surrounding

the entire picture.

There's no way to zoom in to fill the screen, or even just expand it to only have black bars downthe sides. It's a waste of screen real estate and a poor experience.

Viewers using the Presto phone app will experience the same navigation options as the tabletversion, albeit with significantly fewer selectable options on screen at any given time thanks tothe limited real estate.

If you want to access the Presto service on the big screen directly, you now have two options –via the new Telstra TV streaming box, or through a PS3 or PS4 playstation console.

The two user interfaces are extremely different. While the Telstra TV's UI is fairly clean, thePresto app itself isn't particularly user friendly. Finding shows is a pain – there's no easy way tocontinue watching a program or finding the most recent episode. But the fact that Presto nowstreams in HD is very welcome – a look at the first episode of Mr. Robot looks great on 50inches.

The PS4 Presto app, meanwhile, is a much nicer experience. For a start, it offers the ability tocontinue watching shows from the main menu easily.

It's not perfect – you can't really binge watch on Presto, as the software doesn't automaticallystart the next episode when each one finishes.

On the upside though, the bug that logged you out of your account every time you exited the apphas been fixed, so there's no more manually entering your password on a daily basis

But still, overall the PS4 app is by far the cleanest watching experience for the platform.2016-03-01 04:30 By Nick

49 Nissan Leaf cars are susceptible to hacking

THE ELECTRIC Nissan Leaf can be blown over byhackers, according to a security researcher, who saidthat you could control some of its features remotely ifyou were so inclined.

Troy Hunt, who is already a name in the securityindustry, has blogged about this and shaken Leafdrivers like leaves.

This ain't the first time that a car has been hacked ,and it isn't the most devastating.

Hunt said that it is possible to sit around somewhere and play with features on the Nissan carthanks to the paper bag-like security in a Nissan app called Connect. This means that a hackercould muck about with the temperature inside the car from blooming miles away.

This is just one example, and on just one car. The same trick was tried on Leafs in the wild,however, and it worked. Hunt and the hunters were able to gain access to a number of othervehicles, and presumably make their owners a bit hot around the collar and cool around the feet.

Individual drivers can also be identified and tracked through access to the vehicle identificationnumber etched on the windscreen. These things add up, of course, and hackers will find a usefor them.

We asked Nissan for its position on this and was told that the company has suspended theConnect software service.

"The NissanConnect EV app is currently unavailable. This follows information from anindependent IT consultant and subsequent internal Nissan investigation that found the dedicated

server for the app had an issue that enabled the temperature control and other telematicsfunctions to be accessible via a non-secure route," the firm said.

"No other critical driving elements of the Nissan Leaf or eNV200 are affected.

We apologise for the disappointment caused to our Nissan Leaf and eNV200 customers whohave enjoyed the benefits of our mobile apps. However, the quality and seamless operation ofour products is paramount. "

The firm will release updated versions of the app soon, which is pretty much what Hunt washoping for.

"In my view, this is the sort of flaw that needs to have the service pulled until it can be fixedproperly and restored. It's not a critical feature of the vehicle yet it has the potential to affect itsphysical function and there's the privacy risk as well. Plus, of course, it's already beingdiscussed publicly so the risk is well and truly out in the public domain already," he said in a blogpost.

"I want to see Nissan secure this. I own a Nissan myself (albeit not a connected one) which I'mpassionate about and am very invested in the brand emotionally and financially. But they doneed to take action on this because clearly the current state is not satisfactory. " µ

To hear more about security challenges, the threats they pose and how to combat them, makesure you sign up for the Computing Enterprise Security and Risk Management conference on24 November.2016-03-01 03:22

50 Yahoo donates CaffeOnSpark deep learning software to

open sourceYAHOO IS is to offer its CaffeOnSpark deep learning softwareto the community. The system was built to enhance Flickr'simage recognition engine, and is now available to opensource for further development adaptation and general larkingabout with.

The team explained in a blog post : "We believe that deeplearning should be conducted in the same cluster along withexisting data processing pipelines to support featureengineering and traditional (non-deep) machine learning. Wecreated CaffeOnSpark to allow deep learning training andtesting to be embedded into Spark applications. "

The software is available on Yahoo's GitHub repository andcan be tested on Amazon Web Services' EC2 cloud or on private Spark clusters.

The team added: "Our goal is to make CaffeOnSpark widely available to deep learningscientists and researchers, and we welcome contributions from the community to make thathappen. "

The lengthy blog post explained the concept in spectacular detail, but the short version is that itruns on Apache and complements the existing Spark MLib non-deep-learning algorithm thatcomes as standard.

Yahoo isn't exactly a front-runner in the field but there is little question that the sophistication ofthe Flickr algorithm bodes well for anyone looking to take the plunge.

Deep learning is becoming a next-big-thing battleground for many of the major tech players.Google has already open sourced its DreamDeep yielding Tensorflow engine with sometimesterrifying results.

Apple recently poached Nvidia's deep learning director shortly after buying deep learningspecialist Perceptio, and Nvidia has turned its attention to GPU-accelerated in-car deeplearning.

IBM's stalwart Watson supercomputer also got an injection of deep learning last year when thecompany acquired AlchemyAPI, and the firm has even added a 'personality' courtesy ofCognea.

But don't be fooled into confusing deep learning with intelligence. CERN professor and BlueYonder founder Michael Feindt told us in an interview last year: "We are very far away from amachine that is 'intelligent' in the very wide sense we attribute it to normally.

"Even the best algorithms do not 'think', 'feel' or 'live', they have no 'self-consciousness' and no'free will'. This is, and will stay, pure science fiction for a while. " µ2016-03-01 05:14

51 Microsoft releases updated Windows 10 preview builds for

desktop and mobile usersMICROSOFT HAS , for the first time, released updated preview code forWindows 10 desktop and Windows 10 Mobile at the same time, as the firmpaves the way for the upcoming Redstone release.

Both updates were pushed out overnight to testers on Microsoft's Windows Insider programme.Build 14271 for the PC and Build 14267.1004 for mobile were released to testers on the FastRing and, for the most part, largely comprised a number of bug fixes as Microsoft focuses oncleaning up the code in preparation for the Redstone release sometime in the first half of thisyear.

Redstone will be the second major update for the Windows 10 platform on the PC, following lastyear's Windows 10 November Update .

However, there are a couple of notable changes. Starting with Build 14271 on the PC and goingforwards, the setting that governs how frequently Windows will ask for tester feedback will belocked to automatic.

Gabe Aul, corporate vice president for Microsoft's Engineering Systems Team, announced thechange on the Windows Experience blog , saying that the feedback is a vital part of theWindows Insider programme.

"After each build upgrade or after certain activities, Windows will often ask for feedback. Theanswers to these questions are used by our engineering teams to understand how WindowsInsiders feel about a particular experience or a particular build," he explained.

"While we don't require Windows Insiders to answer these questions, we do hope they take thetime to answer them so that we can better improve Windows for our customers. "

Meanwhile, Windows 10 Mobile Build 14267.1004 delivers a new Visual Voicemail feature fordual-SIM devices such as the Lumia 950 XL , and fixes a serious bug in Build 14267 whereusers of the Lumia 550 found that their device no longer charged or connected via USB.

Visual Voicemail was showcased by Microsoft last year, and provides on-screen controls thatenable users to listen to and manage voicemail messages without having to dial into theirvoicemail system.

However, users of older Windows Phone handsets will be disappointed, as Microsoft recentlybegan making preview releases available only for devices that shipped with Windows 10Mobile, such as the Lumia 950, 950 XL, 650 and 550.

Microsoft warned of some known problems with these latest preview releases which it is

working to fix. Some PCs, for example, have been found to freeze or bluescreen when resumingfrom hibernation, and there is there is a known driver bug that prevents some commercialantivirus tools operating as expected. µ2016-03-01 05:14

52 Raspberry Pi 3: 50 percent more power, 100 percent same

priceTINY, BUT SMASHING , computer the RaspberryPi has a new brother in the form of the freshlybaked Raspberry Pi 3.

The Raspberry Pi 3 arrives four years after thefirst model , and retains the same charm and thesame kind of price. Eight million units of theRaspberry Pi have been shipped over that timemaking it the best-selling PC ever, and theRaspberry Pi Foundation will expect similarsuccess with the new model.

"We've shipped over eight million units, includingthree million units of Raspberry Pi 2, making us the UK's all-time best-selling computer. TheRaspberry Pi Foundation has grown from a handful of volunteers to have over 60 full-timeemployees, including our new friends from Code Club," said Foundation founder Eben Upton.

"We've sent a Raspberry Pi to the International Space Station and are training teachers aroundthe world through our Picademy programme.

"In celebration of our fourth birthday, we thought it would be fun to release something new.Accordingly, Raspberry Pi 3 is now on sale for $35 (the same price as the existing Raspberry Pi2). "

The price remains the same, but other things change. This machine is 50 percent more powerfulthan the Pi 2, and 10 times more powerful that the original Pi 1. It has a whole new SoC thanksto Broadcom, and what Upton calls a "custom-hardened" 1.2GHz 64-bit quad-core ARM Cortex-A53. Current power sources will manage the new PI hardware, but Upton urged those looking toconnect power-hungry projects to use a 2.5A adapter.

"All of the connectors are in the same place and have the same functionality, and the board canstill be run from a 5V micro-USB power adapter," he added. "This time round, we'rerecommending a 2.5A adapter if you want to connect power-hungry USB devices to theRaspberry Pi. "

Everything you have now for your Pi will still work, and the Pi 3 includes integrated 802.11nwireless LAN and Bluetooth 4.1. The Pi 3 is on sale now at the usual places.

You can pick one up from resellers including Element14 and RS Components for about £30. µ.

The INQUIRER 's sister site Computing will be holding an Internet of Things Business Summit in London on May 12. Attendance is free to qualifying end users and places are already goingfast. Visit the event page to see the agenda and to sign up. µ2016-03-01 05:14

53 Microsoft looks to increase iOS and Android foothold with

Xamarin purchaseMICROSOFT HAS announced more John Hurt chest-burster antics , and this one is big. Thecompany has bought Xamarin, a firm that specialises in bringing. NET app development to iOS

and Apple.

Microsoft recently abandoned attempts to portAndroid apps to its Universal Apps platform, sosnaffling Xamarin, which seems to have itcovered, seems like a logical step.

Redmond is pushing for a unified platform torescue its ailing Windows 10 Mobile offering andreach out further into the Android and iOSecosystems, which it has been doing in spades.

The company said in a statement: "Xamarin’sapproach enables developers to take advantage of the productivity and power of. NET to buildmobile apps, and to use C# to write to the full set of native APIs and mobile capabilitiesprovided by each device platform.

"This enables developers to easily share common app code across their iOS, Android andWindows apps while still delivering fully native experiences for each of the platforms. Xamarin’sunique solution has fuelled amazing growth for more than four years. "

Xamarin claims to have 15,000 users in 120 companies and 1.3 million developers and alreadyhas complete integration with Microsoft Visual Studio, Azure, Office 365 and Enterprise Mobility."With today’s acquisition announcement we will be taking this work much further to make ourworld-class developer tools and services even better with deeper integration and seamlessmobile app dev experiences," Microsoft said.

"The combination of Xamarin, Visual Studio, Visual Studio Team Services, and Azure delivers acomplete mobile app dev solution that provides everything a developer needs to develop, test,deliver and instrument mobile apps for every device. We are really excited to see what you buildwith it. "

Both companies have developer conferences in the next couple of months - Microsoft Build inMarch and Xamarin Evolve in April - which promise more details of how Microsoft plans to useXamarin.

No financial details of the deal were revealed. µ2016-03-01 03:17

54 Tim Cook compares iPhone unlocking to cancer

VOCAL APPLE CEO Tim Cook is continuing towring attention out of this will-they-won't-they-why-don't-they unlock the iPhone passcode story, and hasbegun dropping the C-bomb.

Yup, like Turbo B, the MC of big in the 1990s groupSnap, Cook has taken to comparing the seriousnessof the iPhone unlocking situation to the serious illnessthat is cancer. He did this on ABC News as part of theiPhone privacy, encryption, security roadshow.

"The only way to get information [from a lockediPhone], at least currently the only way we know, would be to write a piece of software that weview as sort of the equivalent of cancer," he said.

"We think it's bad news to write it. We would never write it. We have never written it, and that iswhat is at stake here. We believe that is a very dangerous operating system. "

It's a precedent, but is it like cancer? Well, that's a stretch. It's a very big deal for the industry right

now and Cook's refusal to apply a 200-year-old catch-all law to a five-year-old piece oftechnology has vocal support and opposition.

"If a court can ask us to write this piece of software, think about what else they could ask us towrite. Maybe it's an operating system for surveillance, maybe the ability for the law enforcementto turn on the camera," Cook said.

"I don't know where this stops. But I do know that this is not what should be happening in thiscountry. "

Why stop there, Tim? If this is as serious as cancer surely there are a whole load of other thingswe could compare it to? For example: 'We view this as sort of equivalent to Godzilla rampagingaround, reaching into people's houses and stealing and eating their children.' Or 'We view thisas sort of equivalent to stale crisps and flat cola.'

The INQUIRER feels it appropriate to report that Snap compared cancer to rhythm is a dancer.You could probably argue against this too. µ2016-03-01 03:17

55 Say goodbye to Sony's PlayStation TV microconsole

"PS TV shipments were terminated at the end of2015 in SCEA [Sony Computer EntertainmentAmerica] and SCEE [Sony ComputerEntertainment Europe]," a spokesperson forSony told us. "Shipment is still continuing inSCEAsia (as of the end of February, 2016), andwe have nothing to announce regarding thetiming of termination. "2016-03-01 05:14 Justin Yu

56 Here's Why Some Partners

Think Cisco Should AcquireHyper-Converged StartupSpringpath Instead OfPartnering With It

With Cisco Systems possibly poised to unveil its long awaited hyper-convergence offering this week at its annual partner conference, some of its

partners believe the vendor will acquire Springpath, a startup founded by former VMwarestorage engineers.

As CRN first reported in January , Cisco has inked an OEM agreement with Springpath andalso made an undisclosed investment in the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based startup. Cisco is usingSpringpath's technology in a new hyper-convergence offering that runs on its UCS servers,according to CRN's sources.

Sources have told CRN that Cisco also has the option of acquiring Springpath based onrevenue results. Springpath, which exited stealth in early 2015, certified its software to run onCisco UCS servers last June.

[Related: Cisco Inks OEM Deal With Startup Springpath, Preps UCS Hyper-ConvergedAppliance -- Sources ]

Adding fuel to the speculative fires in the channel, Rob Soderbery, Cisco's senior vice presidentof enterprise products and solutions, has been working with Springpath as a board observersince November, according to his LinkedIn profile .

A Cisco spokesman referred CRN's questions about Soderbery's board role to Springpath,which didn't respond to a request for comment.

Springpath develops software that enables compute, storage, networking and virtualization torun on x86 server hardware. Co-founders Mallik Mahalingam and Krishna Yadappanavar werepreviously engineers at VMware, helping to create technologies like VMFS (Virtual Machine FileSystem) and VXLAN (Virtual Extensible LAN).

Three partners told CRN they believe San Jose, Calif.-based Cisco will acquire Springpath tolock up the technology and prevent one of its rivals from buying it. If Cisco doesn't announce themove at its partner conference this week in San Diego, it will likely pull the trigger sometime inthe near term, the partners speculated.

"I think working with Springpath is a good move for Cisco, but if it's an OEM relationship insteadof an acquisition, then it could spell trouble for them down the road," said one of the partners,who didn't want to be named because the partnership is confidential.

Buying Springpath would enable Cisco to avoid a repeat of the scenario that played out in 2012,when it was reportedly close to acquiring coveted software-defined networking startup Nicirawhen VMware swooped in at the last minute with a better offer and closed a deal.

Cisco is coming late to market where startups Nutanix and SimpliVity are grabbing the lion'sshare of attention. Yet Springpath is a good option for customers that want to build their ownhyper-converged infrastructure, according to one Cisco partner.2016-03-01 05:12 Kevin McLaughlin

57 Dell SonicWall Launches Advanced Threat Protection

Subscription Service At RSA 2016Dell SonicWall is jumping into the advanced threat protection market, debutingits Dell SonicWall Capture Advanced Threat Protection Service on Monday atthe 2016 RSA Conference in San Francisco.

The new solution is Dell's first foray into the advanced threat protection market, providing anadditional layer of protection against zero-day and advanced threats for its largely SMBcustomer base. It will be available as an optional subscription service on top of the DellSonicWall appliance.

Capture offers a new take on ATP protection, lacing together three sandboxing engines todeliver a multilayer defense approach. The solution includes sandboxes from SonicWall itself,plus Lastline and VMRay. This new approach will be more effective than a single-layer approachused by the competition, Jane Wasson, Dell product marketing manager for security, told CRN,and will also leave the option open of adding new sandbox technologies down the line, she said,[Related: CRN Exclusive: Dell Security Launches Privileged Account Management Solution ]

"The threat landscape is constantly evolving," Wasson said. "This will allow us to adapt and addnew engines and technology as they become relevant. That will allow us to be a standout interms of effectiveness. "

Wasson said the solution also includes remediation features, such as a block and kill verdict, tohelp SMB customers to quickly make decisions on suspicious files. If a file is found to bemalicious, she said, a signature is created and immediately sent to all other appliances in thenetwork.

Other differentiators include no file size limit for the cloud sandboxing service and scanning ofencrypted, as well as unencrypted, traffic, Wasson said.

The solution hits on multiple demands from the SMB market. First, it helps them meet thedemands of SMBs for security automation, as many of them face a severe talent shortage in

security, said Dmitriy Ayrapetov, director of product management. However, despite thatshortage, SMBs see many of the same threats that their enterprise peers face, such asransomware, and therefore need just as robust an ATP solution, he said.

"This is an opportunity to go back to customers who are not as forward-leaning on security,"Ayrapetov said. "Security keeps evolving. … This gives them an opportunity to go back tocustomers. "

Wasson said partners she has talked to during the product's beta test period are very excitedabout the new release.2016-03-01 06:21 Sarah Kuranda

58 Check Point Software Technologies Revamps Entire

Platform Under Single Management ConsoleEMBARGO - Confirming time still but for tomorrow AM

Check Point Software Technologies is reimagining the way customers and partners interact withits solutions, unveiling Tuesday the launch of a new, next-generation security managementplatform called Check Point R80.

The Israeli security vendor announced the R80 at the 2016 RSA Conference, running all thisweek in San Francisco.

The new security management platform brings the entire Check Point database and applianceecosystem to a single management console, on which partners and customers can managetheir entire IT infrastructure, security policies and other Check Point technologies.

[Related: CRN Exclusive: HPE-Fortinet Bundle To Marry Firewall, Log ManagementCapabilities ]

"It's a total rebuild of the whole environment," Jane Goh, head of product marketing, securitymanagement, said in an interview with CRN.

In addition to a single management console, the new R80 platform adds unified policymanagement, making it easier to segment policies enforcement into layers that can beassigned to different portions of the network.

Goh said the new management platform is designed to be more extensible and scalable, withAPIs to bring in network management and for ticketing, and to change management solutions.The platform makes it possible to control and limit what level of control third-party systems have,she said.

"The trend that we're seeing is automating more and more security controls," Goh said. "We'rehoping that this will pave the way toward end-to-end security control automation. "

Finally, the new R80 platform adds integrated threat management, which before operated on itsown platform. Goh said that gives customers and partners the ability to see a security alert andquickly drill down to trouble shoot using all the power of the Check Point platform.

As the usage of cloud and connected devices rise, Goh said, security is getting increasinglymore complex. She said R80 launch is designed to tackle that trend head on, helpingcompanies simplify the management of a complicated security landscape.2016-03-01 05:12 Sarah Kuranda

59 5 Companies That Had A Rough Week

The Week Ending Feb. 26

Topping this week's roundup of companies that had a rough week is Ingram Micro, which is

losing its second-in-command executive just days after the news the distributor is beingacquired by a Chinese company.

Also making the list were a key executive loss for VMware, accelerated layoffs at HP Inc., a lossfor Apple in its ongoing patent legal battle with Samsung, and Nutanix's reported delayed IPO.

Not everyone in the IT industry was having a rough go of it this week. For a rundown ofcompanies that made smart decisions, executed savvy strategic moves -- or just had good luck -- check out this week's Five Companies That Came To Win roundup.2016-03-01 06:21 Rick Whiting

60 Salesforce Debuts Health Cloud, A Solution For Managing

Patient RelationshipsSalesforce extended its industry-leading CRM portfolio Monday with the launchof Health Cloud, a new offering that treats patients like customers.

The health-care-focused solution is intended to help primary care providers, insurers and lifesciences companies improve their relationships with patients, and to give them all tools tocollaborate when delivering care, Joshua Newman, Salesforce's chief medical officer, told CRN.Salesforce has effectively been in the health-care business for a long time, Newman said, butHealth Cloud will help the channel build and offer unique solutions that focus on relationships, notrecords.

[Related: Salesforce Growth Slightly Accelerated In Q4, Driven By Nine-Digit Deals AndExpanding Portfolio ]

Health Cloud manages the patient relationship from a single console with features like a timelineview of visits and treatments, diagrams of an extended care team, and family information. Thecloud can be integrated with medical records systems and devices.

Newman said Health Cloud was born from Salesforce's observations of how the industry wasusing its existing products.

First, health-care providers started putting medical records into Salesforce's clouds, then thepayers -- primarily insurers -- started doing the same. Finally, medical device andpharmaceutical companies, facing greater competition, "realized they had to start providingservices with their molecules and devices" and turned to Salesforce.

"All of them were putting patient data into Salesforce, and that got us excited," Newman toldCRN.

Evolving regulations, heightened consumer expectations and a new wave of competitionmotivated Salesforce to develop a targeted solution.

Health Cloud acts as an "engagement layer" on top of records systems and medical deviceswidely used to deliver care, coordinate treatment, conduct at-home monitoring, and handlebilling, reimbursements and payment processing. It's not much different from what Salesforcehas been doing for more than a decade with business systems like ERP, inventory and businessmanagement.

"It's really the same answer everywhere," Newman said. "It's about bringing people and datatogether to solve problems. "2016-03-01 06:21 Joseph Tsidulko

61 Exclusive: HPE-Fortinet Bundle To Marry Firewall, Log

Management CapabilitiesHewlett Packard Enterprise and Fortinet have joined forces on a security offering aimed at

giving customers better visibility into and control over security threats.

The bundle, which will be unveiled during RSA Conference 2016 in San Francisco, will allowclients in heavily regulated verticals -- such as health care, financial services and retail -- toleverage deep-analysis reporting for a more comprehensive view of potential problems acrossan ever-expanding attack surface.

"We have excellent complementary solutions that can address an urgent need in the midsizeenterprise space," Jaweed Metz, a product marketing manager for HPE's enterprise securityproducts, told CRN exclusively.

[Related: Fortinet Reorganizes Sales Force, Says Partner Organization Is Not Affected ]

Joining Palo Alto, Calif.-based HPE's log management platform with Sunnyvale, Calif.-basedFortinet’s enterprise firewalls makes it possible to collect, store, analyze and report on what'shappening in end users' networks, Metz said, enabling partners to better address vulnerabilitiesas soon as they are found. The bundle is intended for customer ecosystems with 1,000 to 5,000end users, he said.

Though the bundle is primarily a one-time sale, partners can generate some recurring revenueby upselling end users on related security subscription services that get renewed each year,John Maddison, Fortinet's senior vice president of products and solutions, told CRN.

The companies are offering promotional pricing around the bundle, Metz said, though hedeclined to disclose what types of margins partners can expect.

Metz said he expects the offering to be deployed in a multitude of settings, from clinics andmedical offices to credit unions and small regional banks to multilocation retailers. The offeringshould also gain traction in other security-conscious verticals such as education, energy,manufacturing and construction, he said.

The bundle will be offered exclusively through Centennial, Colo.-based distributor ArrowElectronics for 60 days, and available only to partners in the United States and Canada, Metzsaid. HPE and Fortinet plan to roll the bundle out to other parts of the world in the second half of2016, Metz said, which will likely entail bringing additional distributors onboard.

The companies hope to have 50 to 100 solution provider partners carrying the offering within thenext 12 months, starting with channel giants such as New York-based Dimension Data, No. 10on the CRN Solution Provider 500, and Denver-based Optiv Security, No. 26 on the SP 500 .

Metz said the companies want to initially partner with a sufficient level of resources to get out ofthe gate quickly, but will eventually consider using small and midsized partners with deepknowledge of and expertise in the security space.2016-03-01 05:12 Michael Novinson

62 Apple scores iPhone legal victory that may help in FBI fight

For all the fighting between Apple and the FBI over a terrorist shooter in San Bernardino,California, it may be the case of an accused drug dealer in Queens, New York, that helpsresolve the escalating battle between personal privacy and national security.

A judge for the US District Court in New York on Monday ruled that the US had no right to use a227-year-old law called the All Writs Act to compel Apple to unlock a specific device and deniedits motion. The government's demand, which was filed in October, is separate from Apple'shigh-profile fight with the FBI over the contents of the iPhone 5C used by one of the terroristsinvolved in the December shooting in San Bernardino.

But while this may be a different case, the ruling may set a precedent strengthening Apple'sargument that it doesn't have to cooperate with a February 16 court order to hack into theterrorist's iPhone. Apple argues that the FBI's demand for a new version of its iPhone mobile

operating software will create a "back door" intoevery iPhone and leave customers vulnerable tohackers.

Government authorities argue that access to theinformation is critical to ensuring our nationalsecurity and preventing attacks like the SanBernardino shooting, which left 14 people deadand 20 wounded.

A senior Apple executive, speaking on aconference call with reporters on Monday, saidthe decision may set a precedent that sways thejudge in the San Bernardino case. The ruling inNew York by Magistrate James Orenstein

bolsters its argument that using the All Writs Act to compel the company to write a version of itsiOS software that doesn't exist today is unconstitutional, Apple said.

The Department of Justice said it was "disappointed" by today's ruling in New York and said itwill continue to use the judicial system to get access to the iPhone.

"As our prior court filings make clear, Apple expressly agreed to assist the government inaccessing the data on this iPhone -- as it had many times before in similar circumstances -- andonly changed course when the government's application for assistance was made public by thecourt. This phone may contain evidence that will assist us in an active criminal investigation. "

The New York case deals with an accused drug trafficker and the government's ability to use theAll Writs Act to force Apple to help hack into the device. Judge Orenstein, however, decided thelaw couldn't be used in that way.

"Ultimately, the question to be answered in this matter, and in others like it across the country, isnot whether the government should be able to force Apple to help it unlock a specific device," hewrote in his 50-page ruling today. "It is instead whether the All Writs Act resolves that issue andmany others like it yet to come... I conclude that it does not. "

CNET's Terry Collins contributed to this report.2016-03-01 05:14 Roger Cheng

63 Bay Dynamics Launches New Partner Program At RSA To

Help Channel Combat Insider ThreatsBay Dynamics is getting back to its channel roots at this year's RSAConference, launching a partner program Monday to help its channel partnersbetter address the insider threat challenge.

The insider threat problem is very real, as 62 percent of IT professionals say they've seen anincrease in insider threats in the past year, according to a study by Crowd Research Partners.The same study found that fewer than 50 percent of IT professionals felt they had the appropriatecontrols to combat insider threats.

San Francisco, Calif.-based Bay Dynamics started as a user behavior analytics company morethan 15 years ago. It evolved in the early 2000s into a consulting company, acting as a VAR formultiple large security vendors. In 2007, it launched its Risk Fabric cyber risk analytics platformto help companies pinpoint insider threats.

[Related: Palo Alto Networks CEO Expects Security Vendor Won't Be Hit By SpendingSlowdown ]

While the technology itself is critical to fighting insider threats, co-founder and Chief Technology

Officer Ryan Stolte said, customers also need the expertise and assistance to set up and run theanalytics platform. That's why working with the channel is so critical, he said, and why BayDynamics is expanding its partner approach Monday with the launch of a formal partnerprogram.

"It takes a community of people that are experts at insider threats and can get these systems upand running," Stolte said. "I think this program is an acknowledgement that we all want to worktogether to solve the problem, and it's something there's been a lot of demand for by customers."

Kier Lane, CEO at Latus Solutions, Redwood City, Calif., said his business decided to partnerwith Bay Dynamics as it looked to help its customers better manage risk by reducing threats andcutting back on complexity. He said Latus Solutions has already migrated most of its systems tothe company's cyber threat management platform.

"Bay Dynamics represents a really good opportunity for companies to integrate lots oftechnology and quickly see threats, rather than taking a long time to simplify the tools you needto do that," Lane said.

Ultimately, that's all about driving better outcomes for the customer, he said. That is the mostimportant factor in a vendor-partner relationship, he said.

"We're very customer-focused," Lane said. "It's all about the customer. "

The new partner program, which Bay Dynamics has dubbed the Insider Threat Alliance, will havethree levels: referral, silver and gold. The levels will be based primarily on revenue requirements.2016-03-01 06:21 Sarah Kuranda

64 Microsoft ads imply Windows 10 computers do more than

MacsTechnically Incorrect offers a slightly twisted takeon the tech that's taken over our lives.

Why do computers exist?

Is it for doing things? Or is it simply to make life,and the inherent entertainment within it, moreamusing?

Which, apparently, Apple isn't.

The ads feature the Bug Chicks, two womenwhose small business tries to get kids excitedabout creepy-crawlies. Which seems less hardthan getting people excited about Windows 10.

The features are all in themselves interesting. However, moving someone away from somethingthey feel emotionally committed to is no easy task.

However, every new product -- and every piece of marketing put behind it -- is an attempt tobridge the gap not just between, say, competing computers but between competing brands.2016-03-01 02:50 Chris Matyszczyk

65 Hololens, HTC Vive taking preorders while Sony hints at VR

gloveIt's an exciting time for putting high-tech gear on your face.

CNET Update delivers the tech news you need in under 3 minutes. Watch Bridget Carey every

afternoon for a breakdown of the big stories, hotdevices, new apps and what's ahead. Subscribeto the podcast via the links below.

Subscribe:2016-03-01 05:14 Bridget Carey

66 Samsung to start S7 leasing

program

Samsung Electronics will launch a leasingprogram for its latest Galaxy S7 and S7 Edgehandsets through its own stores in South Koreawhen sales begin March 11.

Much like Apple's iPhone leasing programlaunched last September, buyers of the SouthKorean tech giant's flagship phones can usethem for a year after just paying monthly fees,then upgrade them to newer models.

Users sign a 24-month, monthly instalment plan, but if they upgrade their phones in 12 months,they are exempt from the remaining payments.

Samsung will only offer the program via its Samsung Digital Plaza in South Korea, its ownphysical stores, when official sales begin. It will not be available in other telco stores whereKoreans usually buy their phones.

Samsung will partner its affiliate Samsung Card, its credit card company, with monthlyinstalments paid to the financial firm. Users can select any mobile of South Korea's mobilecarriers -- SK Telecom, KT, and LG Uplus.

Choi Sung-joon, chairman of telco watchdog Korea Communication Commission, said hehoped that the rental service will reinvigorate the local smartphone market, which has stagnatedsince a strict subsidies limit being enforced, as well as market saturation.

Samsung will start pre-orders for the S7 series through telcos in South Korea from March 4.2016-03-01 03:47 Cho

67 HoloLens developer edition features Skype, games,

HoloStudio builder (Tomorrow Daily)Microsoft not only opened the gates on its HoloLens development edition preorders , they alsoannounced some of the software available to developers when they receive their headsets. It's aprincely sum if you want to make applications for Microsoft's AR headset, but we're excited tosee what kinds of ideas start popping up as the development process officially heats up.

Of course, you can find us everywhere on social media. Like, follow and heart us as you desire!

Subscribe to Tomorrow Daily:2016-03-01 02:34 Ashley Esqueda

68 Australia Post to capitalise on Data61's digital expertise

With the grand vision of becoming an ecommerce and e-government services company,

Australia Post has announced a partnership with Data61 to leverage the organisation's digitaland "cyber" expertise.

According to Australia Post managing director and group CEO Ahmed Fahour, the postalservice will maximise its ecommerce expertise by working with with some of Australia's bestdata and innovation experts.

"We are continuing to directly invest in ideas that will improve the lives of our customers and ourpartnership with Data61 further demonstrates this," he said. "This business-driven approach willbring short-term teams together to understand what does and doesn't work for our customers. "

With the help of Data61, Australia Post intends to clean up and digitise three areas: Trustedservices, which includes securing purchases from its online store and building easy-to-useservices backed by what it called advanced cyber capabilities; the future of logistics, by applyingexpertise and insight to the data from Australia Post's trucks and parcel deliveries to driveadvances in supply chain management and methods of delivery; and digital governmentservices, which is centred on improving how Australians can access and utilise governmentservices when and where they need.

Australia Post said it is already involved in market trials of new technology that transforms howcitizens can access government services in regional, remote, and metropolitan areas.

"Our first trial will allow us to deliver a range of e-government services to customers in up to 20areas of isolation or social disadvantage, resulting in improved convenience without having totravel to other service centres," Fahour said.

"As a major ecommerce business, innovation is part of our future. We need to continue torespond quickly to the ongoing shift in consumer behaviour towards digital channels. "

The partnership with Data61 builds on the organisation's AU$20 million innovation fund that waslaunched late last year.

The initial cash injection was given to emerging ecommerce startups as well as funding the co-location of its Lab-14 premises, Australia Post's accelerator hub, to the University ofMelbourne's Melbourne Accelerator Program (MAP).

At the time, Fahour said that the investment fund and initial partnership with MAP were part of anambitious program to support small businesses and to accelerate ecommerce innovationacross Australia.

"We will work with our people, our customers, the community, and our partners to identify newopportunities and emerging, disruptive ecommerce businesses that we can accelerate," Fahoursaid.

"We will use the AU$20 million capital fund -- which with the success I expect could grow to morethan AU$100 million over coming years -- to directly invest in great ecommerce businesses with

ideas that will improve the lives of our customers. "

Earlier this month, Andrew Dilenis, Australia Post head of digital systems, revealed that theorganisation was playing catch-up when it came to being digital. Speaking at Criterion'sImplementing an As-a-Service Model conference, he said Australia Post's realisation that itneeded to change was when it was experiencing a decline in revenue, an increase incompetition, and a growing shift in the digital market.

"Failure wasn't an option for us; we had a burning reason to get better at digital and we neededto do it faster," he said.

Australia Post also revealed in July that it managed to reduce the average cost of a technologyproject by AU$800,000 .2016-03-01 03:31 Asha Barbaschow

69 Google ANZ MD Maile Carnegie switches to ANZ Bank

ANZ Bank has announced Google ANZmanaging director Maile Carnegie will join thecompany as group executive digital banking, andwill commence her role in July.

Reporting to ANZ CEO Shayne Elliot, Carnegiewill lead the development and delivery of thebank's digital experience including digitalprojects and relationships with the fintech sector.She will also have shared responsibility for thefinancial results of the bank's Australian and NewZealand divisions.

In taking up the position, the bank addedCarnegie will be appointed as a member of thegroup executive committee and have group responsibility for marketing, including ANZ's brand,advertising, and sponsorship.

Carnegie revealed in an interview with ANZ BlueNotes that while she was not "actively looking toleave" Google, what helped her "seal the deal" was being able to "anchor" her career back inAustralia.

"I've spent so much time working for multinationals and bumping around the world, and one ofthe things I'm really passionate about is working more broadly on what's going on in Australia,and the fact that I can stay in Australia ... was really attractive," she said.

Carnegie added she was also convinced by the direction the bank was taking. "You can reallysense there is a lot of energy to move the bank forward. "

Prior to joining Google in 2013, Carnegie was managing director for Procter & Gamble inAustralia and New Zealand. She has also held other positions with Procter & Gamble, includinggeneral manager for Asia strategy, marketing and design based in Singapore, and in seniormarketing and commercial roles in the United States.

Elliot said Carnegie's appointment marks the company's recognition that digital is central todriving revenue growth and making the company more competitive.

"Part of Maile's role will also be to shift our thinking and champion a Group-wide innovationculture at ANZ based on developing and attracting service-focused, technology-literate,innovative and experimental people and teams. This includes being the sponsor of a new DigitalBusiness Transformation Leadership Program created jointly by ANZ and the MassachusettsInstitute of Technology," he said.

"I am incredibly pleased to have Maile join us. Her experience at Google, her track record inbuilding brands and business in Australia and in Asia, and her leadership skills make heruniquely qualified to lead ANZ's digital transformation. "

ANZ revealed during its 2015 full year results that total technology expenses increased byAU$196 million from the AU$1.3 billion reported last year to AU$1.5 billion this year. ANZattributed part of the increase to the increased depreciation and amortisation on keyinfrastructure projects, higher data storage, software licence costs, and increased use ofoutsourced and managed services.

The growing spend by the bank of technology forms part of the company's AU$1.5 billion five-year customer-facing Banking on Australia program , which was launched in October 2012 totransform the way the bank does business.

Since the end of last year, ANZ has been pushing to fast-track digital change when CEO MikeSmith outlined that it was a key objective for the group.

"At ANZ, I want us to fast track the change to a digital culture," he said. "We need to embracethe change in customer behaviour that technology brings, and to make sure we are offering thebest possible digital services.

"We need to adapt to the widespread disruption of traditional business models, and make surewe are helping our clients thrive in these exciting but challenging times. "

The company further signalled its commitment to the digital push when it recruited people fromTwitter, Dimension Data, and former employees of PayPal and Procter & Gamble to establish atechnology panel to help with the bank's digital transformation.

It also secured a five-year AU$450 million partnership with IBM to deploy the Big Blue's contentmanagement, data, analytics, and cloud software. ANZ said at the time it would support itsongoing core banking and infrastructure needs.

In November last year, ANZ launched a revamped version of its internet banking platform ,designed to give customers a consistent user experience across desktop, tablet, and mobile.

The bank at the time boasted that as part of the upgrade, it introduced additional featuresincluding the ability for businesses to approve payments on-the-go using mobile internetbanking; the ability for users to be able to choose either to view their accounts in a grid format oras a list; and a simplified navigation menu to help customers update contact details, pay a bill,or open a new account.

Last September, ANZ reported that transactions made through its goMoney app reachedAU$100 billion , with the ecommerce technology being adopted by more than 1.4 million userssince its launch in 2010. ANZ also said at the time that goMoney user logins accounted for 62percent of the bank's total customer digital login tally.2016-03-01 01:55 Aimee Chanthadavong

70 Microsoft HoloLens: $3000 devkit seems stupidly expensive

[u2]Microsoft has put a metaphorical forest behind this AR arrow. And so far, thedemos certainly appear impressive.

You have been reading IT Blogwatch by Richi Jennings , who curates the best bloggy bits, finestforums, and weirdest websites… so you don’t have to. Catch the key commentary from aroundthe Web every morning. Hatemail may be directed to @RiCHi or itbw@richi.uk .

Opinions expressed may not represent those of Computerworld. Ask your doctor beforereading. Your mileage may vary. E&OE.

2016-03-01 01:38 Richi Jennings

71 Bomgar unlocks The Vault at RSA Conference 2016

Access management firm Bomgar has todayunveiled a new password vault service at RSAConference 2016 in San Francisco.

Named Bomgar Vault, the new offering helpscompanies secure, manage and administershared credentials for privileged users and ITvendors.

According to the company, this improvessecurity, compliance and productivity by givingback control of privileged credentials to IT, whilealso allowing them to manage and rotate passwords.

The service is based on a technology acquisition made in December, which can help securityprofessionals scan their network to rapidly find privileged credentials, see if they are active andexamine the age of each password.

IT administrators can also import credentials in bulk to build a list of accounts that requiremanagement to be locked into the vault, where they can be managed, restricted and logged.

Stuart Facey, EMEA VP of Bomgar, told IT Pro : "Many companies have come from thepassword vault and extended themselves into the connectivity side. We came from theconnectivity side and then added on the password vault. It's a totally different approach, becausewe think the connectivity is rather important, not just the vault. "

"Often, people try to protect the endpoints - the server, for example," Facey explained. "We'reabout getting to that endpoint securely and, once you get there, limiting where you can go and inthe whole process making sure it's all audited. It's getting there and when you're there what canyou do and what can't you do. "

Will Culbert, Bomgar director of solutions engineering, added that the product should be seen inthe wider context of Bomgar's offerings

"It's designed to be joined-up thinking -- access management and then connectivity to the targetsystem," he said.

"Our objective is not to expose passwords to anybody, so the concept of checking out apassword is something we would like to make an old concept. Instead you should have anapproved federated identity within an infrastructure so you are able to then connect into it duringa certain change control window or during your operating hours," Culbert explained.

As well as being compatible with the company's other products, Bomgar Vault can also beintegrated into third-party multifactor authentication systems to further enhance security ofaccounts.

The product is not yet generally available, however, with the company only saying it is coming"soon".2016-03-01 00:00 Jane McCallion

72 Nasdaq helps ASX with post-trade technology upgrade

The Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) and Nasdaq have announced a partnership that willsee Nasdaq replace ASX's existing equity options clearing technology platforms.

Under the deal, ASX said the technology will be developed on Nasdaq's Genium INET clearing

platform, which is already being used by theorganisation for futures clearing.

The organisation also reported Nasdaq's post-trade risk management solution, Sentinel RiskManger, has now gone live, with its defaultmanagement component now in operation aspart of phase one. According to the ASX, the nextphase of the project will see the fullimplementation of the solution, which will providea single, real-time risk management systemacross both its clearing houses and all assetclasses, including real-time margin calculationand related customer risk analytics.

ASX CIO Tim Thurman said the post-trade phase of the technology refresh will help theorganisation gain benefits including increased flexibility, reduced complexity, and scaleefficiencies.

The update comes as the ASX and US-based firm Digital Asset are in the middle of developingsolutions for the Australian equity market using blockchain technology , the underlying systemthat facilitates transactions such as bitcoin trading.

Phase one of the program will involve replacing the ASX's existing trading and risk managementsystem, which is expected to run to the end of 2016. Meanwhile, phase two will focus on therevamp of the ASX's post-grade services, including clearing and settlement of the cash equitiesmarket.

The initial development will take six to 12 months, when the solution is expected to demonstratethe benefits for a range of users including investors, listed companies, and intermediaries.

A final decision on market design will be made by mid-2017, and will include a decision on thefuture of Clearing House Electronic Subregister System (CHESS), which is expected tocontinue to operate as normal during the development of the blockchain technology.

CHESS is the computer system that the ASX uses to record shareholdings and managesettlements of share transaction.

"While we have announced that ASX is exploring the potential of distributed ledger technology --or blockchain -- to transform settlement processes in our market, we will continue to operate ourexisting post-trade services as normal," Thurman said.

"This extension of ASX's long-standing and successful partnership with Nasdaq will ensure thatAustralia's financial market infrastructure remains world class and meets the needs ofparticipants and investors. "

In February, the ASX said it expects 2016 full year guidance operating expenses to grow byapproximately 5.5 percent as it plans to accelerate its technology transformation program.

During 1H16, operating expenses were up 4.4 percent to AU$85.1 million during the six-monthperiod. Specifically, depreciation and amortisation expenses increased 12.2 percent toAU$20.8 million. The ASX said this was due to the increased capital investment in prior periodsin new services, as well as ongoing technology maintenance and refresh of existing platforms.

The group also incurred AU$18.7 million on capital expenditure during the half year, comparedwith AU$13 million in the previous corresponding period. ASX said the expenditure wasfocused on the company's technology transformation program, which involved replacing itsfutures and cash marketing trading platform that is currently underway, as well as enhancing itsrisk management platform.

The enhancements are due to be completed, according to the ASX, during the calendar year.

2016-02-29 23:53 Aimee Chanthadavong

73 IoP... the Internet of Possibilities

The 'Internet Revolution' is going to be biggerthan the Industrial Revolution and right now, wehave an almost infinite capacity to improve livesand business.

For those not in the know, here is a brief rundownon the IoT.

The Internet of Things (IoT) is the network ofphysical objects which collect and exchange datathrough connectivity to the internet. Thesedevices can include sensors, RFID, M2M andother technologies.

Those of you that have been around for a whilemight be thinking, that is Machine to Machine (M2M) and it has been around forever. Once upona time, we used the cellular network to connect a specific measuring or control device, to aspecific server, with a specific application to perform a specific role, and we called it M2M. Itmight be fleet or asset tracking; it might be a public safety application. Functions were welldefined, system integration took weeks to months, and the whole system served a singlepurpose.

Enter IoT

- Where every sensor is able to connect to any other

- Where data is able to be aggregated and patterns analysed

- Where time consuming end-to-end system integration for a single purpose can be replaced byfast app development... taking days, not months.

The possibilities with IoT are endless. Contrary to popular opinion, IoT is not about technology. Itis about richer data insights and the power of that data to improve business operations that willin turn change how we are served as customers and how we may operate our own business.

IoT has the capability to create a better quality of life. This is more than just the driverless car ora fridge that texts me to let me know that my yoghurt is expiring.

We are working with several local councils to identify ways the Internet of Things can reducecosts, improve efficiency and the lives of citizens. One particular council was frustrated by a lackof reliable environmental data for planning purposes - noise complaints received about licensedvenues had no available data regarding the cause of the noise. Equally, environmentalconditions like temperature and humidity were generally reported by other authorities or bycostly Environment Protection Authority (EPA) installations (a point solution).

Together, we've deployed a sensor network to monitor environmental conditions - noise,humidity, CO2. Near real-time and historic data is fed back into town planning for developmentplanning and urbanisation impact studies.

If you are anything like my husband, you will be familiar with the movie The Matrix, and the quote:

This brave new world of mobility and IoT is about embracing the possibility for future successand differentiation. Working smarter. Outflanking your competition. Driving new value for yourcustomers. Providing an experience that is unique.

Know that when you walk through the IoT door - you are not alone.

Telstra's aim is to deliver a smarter and more productive, liveable world with IoT and M2M. We

are here to support and guide you through the Internet Revolution.2016-02-29 23:32 Agnes Sheehan

74 Optus denies plans to cut 1,000 jobs to fund EPL deal

Optus has denied reports that it is planning to axe1,000 jobs in the immediate future to help fund itsEnglish Premier League (EPL) exclusivebroadcast deal.

Optus has denied the reports, though it concededthat it would need to make changes to itsorganisational structure in future.

"Optus continually reviews its operations toensure it has the right organisational structure inplace to achieve its goals," an Optusspokeswoman told ZDNet.

"As our business evolves, we anticipate we willneed to make further changes to the way we organise ourselves to help support our businessgoals, but we have no specific changes to share right now.

"Although our priority is to always communicate the details of any changes directly withemployees first, Optus does not have plans to make 1,000 roles redundant. "

Optus in November announced that it had won the exclusive Australian broadcast rights to theEnglish Premier League for the next three seasons beginning August 2016, taking the most-watched football league worldwide away from pay TV provider Foxtel's Fox Sports.

In what CEO Allen Lew called "a great win", Optus has the rights to live broadcast all 380Premier League games in every season until mid-2019 across home broadband and mobile.

The telco did not say how much the deal set it back, and has yet to reveal how it will broadcastthe EPL.

Optus last month announced a rise in net profit of AU$19 million, or 9.1 percent, to AU$227million for the last quarter of the 2015 calendar year.

The telecommunications provider's operating revenue was AU$2.43 billion for the quarterending December 31, up 6.3 percent year on year from the AU$2.29 billion recorded during the2014 December quarter.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) were AU$685 million, upAU$33 million or 5.1 percent from the AU$652 million announced in December 2014, which thetelco attributed to growth in mobile and National Broadband Network (NBN) payments, as wellas increased uptake of device repayment plans.

Free cash flow, on the other hand, plummeted by 52.1 percent year on year, from AU$306million down to just AU$147 million.

Optus CEO Allen Lew attributed this loss in cash to continuing investments in the network, whichis due to continue.

During the Australian Communications and Media Authority's 1800MHz spectrum auction ,Optus spent and acquired the most , at AU$196 million, in order to improve its 4G coverage inregional and remote Australia.

"In the coming quarter, Optus will continue to strengthen and extend the reach of its 4G Plusnetwork as it increases deployment across its 700MHz and 2600MHz spectrum holdings," Lewsaid.

"Following its recent acquisition of regional 1800MHz spectrum, Optus now has more spectrumassets to expand its network and improve its 4G coverage for more Australians. "

The Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman published statistics last month showing thatdespite its network investments, Optus has retained the highest complaints ratio for allAustralian telcos. It received 5.9 complaints per 10,000 services in operation for the October toDecember quarter -- a year-on-year rise of 9.3 percent.2016-02-29 23:12 Corinne Reichert

75 Nvidia pairs with Monash University for GPU-accelerated

researchIn a first outside of Singapore, Nvidia andMonash University have launched an officialpartnership that will see researchers andscientists from the Melbourne-based universityjoin Nvidia's Technology Centre Asia Pacific.

According to Mike Wang, solutions architect forNvidia in ANZ, the Technology Centre isdedicated to driving scientific research anddevelopment work in the APAC region.

The two companies, who have worked with eachother in the past, will jointly fund researchstudents, facilitate access to GPU-acceleratedcomputing technologies, and leverage theirworldwide network of experts to provide industry relevant training and knowledge exchange.

It is anticipated that Monash researchers and Nvidia engineers will work together globally aspart of the arrangement, with Wang saying the company intends to run workshops andhackathons, with communication to initially take place remotely.

Although the finer details of the partnership are still to be ironed out, Wang did not rule out thepossibility of an intern exchange with institutions in Singapore and Nvidia's worldwide pool ofengineering talent.

"It's going to be great for Australian science and research and it's going to be the first of its kind,but certainly not the last," he said. "There will be another 'spoke' in the region, and we hope tohave more spokes throughout Australia. "

The Nvidia-Monash partnership comes as the university unveiled its upgraded M3supercomputer on Monday, with Steve Oberlin, CTO at Nvidia's accelerated computingbusiness unit, revealing the M3 is a high performance computer intended to accelerate theuniversity's scientific research.

Monash University has invested AU$4.1 million in this new AU$5.7 million project to fund M3,which is located at the Multi-modal Australian ScienceS Imaging and Visualisation Environment(MASSIVE) in Clayton, Victoria.

Working with with the CSIRO and the Australian Synchrotron, MASSIVE is a high performancecomputing facility designed specifically to process complex data.

According to Monash, over the past five years MASSIVE has played a key role in drivingdiscoveries across many disciplines including biomedical sciences, materials research,engineering, and geosciences.

"Nvidia has pioneered the art of science and visual computing since 1993; their technologiesare transforming the world of displays into a world of interactive discovery for researchers," said

Professor Paul Bonnington, director of the new research centre at Monash University.

"This captures the spirit of this MASSIVE facility and indeed MASSIVE has more Nvidia GPUprocessors than any other research computing system in Australia. "

Bonnington said that globally, Nvidia is playing a critical role in the race to build exoscalecomputers to tackle the world's most complex computational challenges in science and industry.

"As a global tech company on the bleeding edge, we need access to that bleeding edge ofresearch," Wang said. "Science and research is what drives technology and innovation. "

With the skills shortage in the areas of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics(STEM) a hot topic on both sides of Australian politics , Wang believes collaboration betweenthe academic sector and industry opens more opportunities to students.

"It's a virtuous cycle," he said.

In a report released last year, Australia's former chief scientist Professor Ian Chubb saidentrepreneurship was a human endeavour and is thus inseparable from education, notindependent of it. He also said that universities should be at the core of building a culture ofentrepreneurship in Australia.

"In popular culture the entrepreneur is the rogue genius who succeeds without -- or in spite of --education. And it would be extremely convenient if that were true," Chubb said. "If we cannotteach entrepreneurship, we can only recognise the born entrepreneurs, and get out of their waywhilst they get on with the business of change. "

Chubb's view is one echoed by the federal government, with Minister for Industry, Innovation, andScience Christopher Pyne drumming into the nation that the key to its future is productivitygrowth, driven by innovation.

Pyne said previously that Australia has the infrastructure to lead the world in research andinnovation, saying he believes the researchers, universities, and institutions like the CSIRO andQuestacon have the ability to underpin this.

Earlier this month, Data61, the University of New South Wales (UNSW), and Cisco Systemsrecently announced a partnership with the National Farmers' Federation, the NSW FarmersAssociation, the NSW Department of Primary Industries, and startup incubator ATP Innovationsto bring technology to the agricultural world .

Known as Innovation Central Sydney, this partnership will focus on developing new uses forInternet of Things (IoT) technologies within the agricultural sector, as well as extending thesesolutions into implementing smart cities and smarter transport solutions.2016-02-29 22:51 Asha Barbaschow

76 Google adds more data loss prevention tools to Google At

WorkGoogle has added optical character recognition and predefined content detectors to its dataloss prevention tools for Google At Work's Gmail service.

In December, Google outlined how it would bring data loss prevention (DLP) features to GoogleAt Work starting with Gmail and ultimately reaching Drive.

Google outlined the features at the RSA conference in San Francisco.

The new features include:

Here's a look at the dashboard.2016-02-29 22:00 Larry Dignan

77 Square Cash now lets users

store funds in a digital 'CashDrawer'

Square's person-to-person money transferservice Square Cash is now allowing users tostore money they receive through the app in adigital 'Cash Drawer'.

First released in 2013, Square Cash began as acompetitor to PayPal's Venmo, offering free P2P money transfers via website or mobileapplication. Although Venmo has surged to capture a majority share of the P2P transfer market,Square Cash has grown its annualized payment volume to upwards of $1 billion.

The optional money storage feature puts Square Cash in the same vein as PayPal and otherdigital wallets. But it also adds a useful component for small businesses using the Cash Proservice.

First rolled out last March, Cash Pro is a fee-based version Square Cash geared toward SMBsand non-profits that commonly accept cash and checks for payments or donations.

Cash Drawer will now allow these users to maintain a cash balance in their account. What'smore, it gives them consolidated repository of their business transactions, meaning they cankeep track of money as it changes hands.

Users can also withdrawal money whenever they need it and add money from their personalbank accounts.

Of course, the service is applicable to non-business users as well. According to a Squarerepresentative, Cash Drawer makes it "easier to set aside funds for future costs like dinners outwith friends, or upcoming payments like monthly rent. "

In other words, for all of you millennials totally failing in the savings department, Cash Drawercould help you keep some extra money out of sight and in your bank account.2016-02-29 21:50 Natalie Gagliordi

78 US report confirms Ukraine power outage caused by

cyberattackTEC-6 power plant in Kiev, Ukraine. (Image: Wikimedia Commons )

A "synchronized and coordinated" cyberattack in December left parts of western Ukraine withoutpower, US officials have confirmed.

The cyberattack, which left more than 225,000 customers in the dark two days before Christmaslast year, was caused by remote intrusions at three regional electric power distributioncompanies, according to a report by Homeland Security.

Hackers thought to be associated with a Russian hacking group are said to have used malware

to attack and destroy data on hard drives, andthen flooding phone lines with a denial-of-serviceattack. Ukraine's energy ministry also suggestedearlier this month that the attack was linked tohackers based in Russia, falling short of outrightaccusing the Kremlin of orchestrating the attack.

Relations between the two counties stand fraughtafter Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula inMarch 2014 amid an escalation of violence in thecountry.

Homeland Security did not speculate on who wasbehind the attack, but noted that its assessmentwas based on interviews with six organizations

impacted by the blackout pending a further technical analysis.

According to the report :

The report noted that BlackEnergy malware was found on the networks of each of the threecompanies, which were delivered through specifically-targeted spearphishing emails containingmalicious Microsoft Office attachments.

The attackers may have used that initial attack to gain user credentials to the impacted systems,but the report warned the information was still under review.

An earlier study showed that 82 percent of vulnerabilities in Microsoft Office can be mitigated byremoving administrative access to the computer.2016-02-29 21:46 Zack Whittaker

79 Worst tech mergers and acquisitions: Cisco and Linksys;

Apple and Lala.comCorporate mergers - like marriages - can result inthe whole being stronger than its parts -- or theycan end in utter disaster. The IT industry hassuffered its share of disastrous marriages. We'recounting down the worst of the worst...

Cisco entered the highly competitive small officeand home office market back in 2003, bypurchasing LINKSYS for $500M.

Linksys, once the dominant player in the spacehas since been joined by NETGEAR, D-LINK,ASUS and numerous other vendors makingnearly identical products, not to mention thatmany service providers and telcos have alsoissued their own integrated OEM Wi-Fi routers/residential gateways included as part of basicservice offerings.

Linksys as a result fell on hard times -- first being somewhat neglected by its parent companyCisco in the last several years, releasing extremely commoditized and less-reliable products.

Various experimentation with "router design of the month" and heavy product overlap hadproduced a lousy generation of home routers by 2010, which required a complete re-design in2011. Arguably this did improve the quality of LINKSYS's products. But it was too late.

While LINKSYS did eventually eventually solve its engineering issues, Cisco could not make the

consumer products division profitable when compared to its enterprise networking equipmentdivision.

LINKSYS is now owned by Belkin, and has since been producing very good quality SOHOrouters again, such as those which embrace the current 802.11ac "Wave 2" standard.

Lala was being so innovative that it scared the hell out of Apple.

With most of the company mergers listed in this piece, although many of them turned out horribly,you can at least say that the intentions of the company doing the acquisition had the objective ofactually integrating the assets of the company being acquired and making money with it.

I mean, this is usually why you acquire another company, right?

Apple bought music streaming service Lala.com back in December of 2009 for about $80M. Ifyou recall, Lala was doing some innovative things around pricing and service offerings in themusic streaming business, and our own Ed Bott picked it as his favorite among iTunesalternatives in his article written in April of 2009.

Well, Lala was being so innovative that it scared the hell out of Apple, so the company simplykilled it.

No further development, no integration into iTunes, nada.

While the financial impact of Lala's death is far smaller than any of the mergers and acquisitionslisted in this rogue's gallery, it is by far the worst and most malicious case of corporate mergerinfanticide I have ever seen to date.

Apple would later purchase Beats Audio for $3B, and would integrate its streaming musicservice into Apple Music, which is now part of iTunes. Only the future will tell if that acquisition willbe less of a case of pure infanticide than that of Lala's.

Next up, even worse: #15, #14 and #132016-02-29 21:02 ZDNet Editors

80 Inbox by Gmail adds updated Snooze features

Inbox, Google's stab at revamping email as weknow it , is getting some updated Snoozefeatures designed to make email procrastinationeven more intuitive.

Users may now choose to push emails away until'Later this week' and 'This weekend.'

Inbox is still a relatively young application in thescheme of Google products, so the Internet giantappears to be emphasizing user feedback as itrolls out new features.

In a blog post , Google said the highly requestedSnooze times can also be customized, meaning

users can set Inbox to follow their own calendar if they should happen to follow non-traditionalweekends. A similar capability already exists for preferred morning times.

"Snoozing emails is great because it helps you focus on what you need to do now instead ofwhat you can put off until later," Google software engineer Michael Landry said in the post."Starting today, Snooze is getting a new look and two time-saving improvements -- all based onyour feedback. "

Google also recently added a card approach to searches within the Inbox app. The aim of the

feature is to deliver answers to search queries by parsing various conversations and bringingthe data forward.2016-02-29 20:30 Natalie Gagliordi

81 Overclockers UK launches VR Ready systems

OcUK's VR Ready PCs are all set to pump out the high framerates required for virtual gaming Overclockers UK has launchedthree new gaming PCs designed to take up the challenge ofvirtual reality.

Virtual reality (VR) is the talk of the town where PC gaming isconcerned, and today is also the first day the HTC Vive can bepre-ordered for a wallet-busting £689. With headsets due tostart shipping in April 2016, early adopters have a few months inwhich to ensure they're running VR capable hardware, with theminimum recommended card being either an Nvidia GTX 970or AMD R9 390.

Overclockers UK is seeking to capitalise on that upgrade potential, with a VR landing page onits website directing users to the SteamVR Performance Test and a variety of components thatit has deemed VR Ready. This includes a trio of new gaming PCs, upgrade bundles for thosenot needing a full build as well as VR suitable graphics cards and peripherals.

The first PC, the Kinetic VR, is also the least expensive with a base price of £749.99. It uses anIntel Core i5-6500 paired with an Nvidia GTX 970 to achieve a SteamVR Score of 6.6. Next upis the Titan Virtual Raid VR, which starts at just under £1,200 but bumps the specifications up toan Intel Core i5-6600K (overclocked to a beefy 4.5GHz) and AMD Radeon R9 Fury for aclaimed score of 8.9. The final option is the Titan Virtual Force VR, starting at £1,300, whichgets you the same CPU and overclock but with Nvidia hardware, specifically the GTX 980 Ti. Allthree PCs include an installed copy of Windows 10 64-bit and Overclockers UK's standard threeyear warranty, and each has a variety of configuration options if you fancy opting for a fasterGPU or larger HDD, for example.

If you only need to upgrade your core hardware, OcUK is also offering two upgrade bundles. Thefirst, the Defcon VR, starts at £695, and includes an Asus Z170-A motherboard and an IntelCore i5-6600K pre-overclocked to 4.5GHz, along with an Alpenföhn Brocken 2 CPU cooler. Youget to pick whether you need 8GB or 16GB of DDR4 and can also select any of the VR Readygraphics cards, the least expensive being the GTX 970. The more premium bundle, the DefconVR Pro, upgrades to an Asus Maximus VIII Hero with an Intel Core i7-6700K overclocked to4.6GHz and an all-in-one liquid cooler. Only top-end graphics cards can be chosen here: theGTX 980 Ti, GTX Titan X, R9 Fury and R9 Fury X are the four options.

Overclockers UK will also be partnering with HTC to showcase its gaming PCs and the Viveheadset at VR World Congress , taking place in Bristol on April 12.2016-02-29 19:25 Published on

82 You'll be able to see what HoloLens is seeing on a phone or

PCMicrosoft has already shown off how HoloLens could change the way we see sports , playgames, or watch Netflix , and now it's adding live streaming into the mix.

It turns out the HoloLens Companion app lets you broadcast what you're seeing via the headsetto your Windows 10 PC or Windows 10 Mobile device. It basically means others can watch alive stream of whatever you're seeing through the headset, making it a more social experience.

The app, which connects to the HoloLens via Wi-Fi, will also let you control the headset remotely,

with the ability to launch and kill apps on theheadset via PC and mobile.

It doesn't stop there: You can remotely use yourphone or PC to take photos or videos withHoloLens, and view and download them via theapp as well. Your PC or mobile's keyboard willalso be able to input directly to the headset.

Of course, the Developer Edition of the HoloLenscosts $3,000 (about £2,160/AU$4,202), so theCompanion app won't be useful to you just yet

unless you're a dev or have the cash to drop.

Still, if you have a Windows 10 PC or phone, it's worth checking out to see just what kind offeatures you'll have to play around with once a more affordable, consumer-ready headset goeson sale.

Article continues below2016-02-29 19:00 By Farrha

83 Microsoft prices HoloLens Development Edition

Microsoft's Windows 10-powered HoloLens wearable PC andaugmented reality system is available to order today, priced at awhopping $3,000. Microsoft has confirmed that it is openingorders for its augmented reality HoloLens headset today, butanyone hoping to get their hands on one will pay dearly: theinitial release, dubbed the Development Edition, is priced at awhopping $3,000.

Microsoft first unveiled HoloLens early last year during the lead-up to the launch of Windows 10. Featuring an integratedWindows 10 computer, the device was demonstrated as theultimate in augmented reality: capable of tracking your movements in real-time and displayingthree-dimensional images which are locked into space and can even interact with real-worldsurroundings. The company is so serious about the project, in fact, it even hired the director ofMass Effect to improve the virtual user interface.

While Microsoft was eager to show off the capabilities of HoloLens for everything from industrialdesign to gaming, the company has always been silent on one thing: price. Today, though, thecompany has announced that it is opening pre-orders for the HoloLens Development Edition,which operates entirely independently from a PC, for $3,000. For that, interested parties get thehardware and a selection of bundled software: HoloStudio, a 3D modelling app; Skype;HoloTour, a virtual tourism app; Fragments, a ' mixed reality crime drama that unfolds in yourown environment ;' Young Conker, a platformer which uses real-world furniture as the platform;and RoboRaid, a first-person shooter previously known as Project X-Ray. The company hasalso promised to release ' a completely new holographic storytelling medium ' dubbedActiongram, featuring mixed-reality capture technology.

Those ordering a HoloLens Development Edition from the official site can expect to beginreceiving hardware from the 30th of March.2016-02-29 18:55 Published on

84 Pebble Time Round review

Pebble is not like the rest of the big smartwatch names. Where Apple and Motorola usesoftware most people have heard of and big bright screens, and offer limited battery life as a

consequence, Pebble has traditionally gone witha much dimmer screen and custom software,enabling its devices to last way longer betweencharges.

The Pebble Time Round changes all that. Whileits software and features are similar to thePebble Time , it sheds the nerdy look, resulting inone of the most innocuous smartwatches you'llhave laid eyes on. It's like Pebble's take on theWithings Activite , a watch you'd never know was

smart from its looks.

It's just a pity that such a design comes at a price, both monetary and in terms of slashing batterylife from seven days to two and removing support for many key Pebble apps. It's a lovely littlething, though, if the limited feature set and £229.99 (US$249.99, around AU$350) price tagdon't put you off.

While I've just called out the Pebble Time Round as making a bit of a 180 on the Pebble missionstatement, I can also flip that argument around. All Pebble watches have light hardware, smallbatteries and relatively slim frames. This one just pushes that angle way harder.

Perhaps the greatest compliment I can give the Pebble Time Round is that I have had a panic afew times over the last couple of weeks, sure that I'd lost the thing. "What the hell am I meant totell my editor? "

It was still there, though, ticking off the day's minutes. The Pebble Time Round is one of thecomfiest smartwatches I've used, and at this point I've tried most of them. There's no magic tothis. The back isn't even ergonomically curved. It's just very light and has a strap that's all-but-guaranteed to be comfortable.

At first glance it looks like a plastic strap, doesn't it? However, it's actually a very smooth, verysoft leather one. There's none of the crusty bulkiness you get with so many leather straps.

Its face is 38mm in diameter and thinner than many a conventional watch, casually throwing offthe chunk tax that seems to weigh down just about every other smartwatch. Being a size-zerosmartwatch ain't no big deal, Pebble seems to say.

Such a style also means the Pebble Time Round doesn't care about gender. It'll fit on daintywrists without looking ridiculous, and while you're looking at the version with the 20mm straphere, Pebble also makes one with a 14mm strap; you can't switch between the two because thestrap's anchor points are actually part of the casing, so make sure you buy the right model.

Where most smartwatches feel like they are secretly (or not secretly at all) made for dudes, withat most the odd nod to women, the Pebble Time Round designs are either gender-neutral orleaning towards a feminine style. It's a pleasant change.

You've probably already spotted the bad thing about the Pebble Time Round's looks, though.Like the other Pebbles, there's still a great big area of screen surround between the actualdisplay and the edge of the watch. It's something Pebble can't shake, and it makes the screenlook a bit like a porthole, and appear smaller than it actually is.

It means the Pebble Time Round doesn't seem as glitzy as an Apple Watch. But it's not reallymeant to, and it's still made of high-end stuff. The casing is stainless steel, and the screencovering is Gorilla Glass, as used in a lot of smartwatches and phones. A word of warning: theblack coating on this particular version's display surround is very easy to scratch.

The screen itself is similar to the style used in the Pebble Time but, no prizes for this one, isround. And has resolution of 180 x 180 pixels.

In person it looks a bit like a Kindle screen, but has some dull-ish colours to it and much poorer

sharpness than the very latest Kindle models. However, the tech is totally different.

While you might see the Pebble Time Round display described as e-paper, don't confuse thatwith E Ink. This is actually a kind of LCD, which likely has more in common with one of thosefancy graphical calculators a few of you probably lusted after back in school. For readers under25: we used to use calculators in school.

You can level plenty of criticisms at the display. It looks bit blocky, a 64-colour display appearsdated next to almost any other smartwatch, and it looks little small too (it's 1.25 inches indiameter). All are valid grumbles. However, I still find this a totally valid alternative to an OLEDdisplay.

The big bonus is that the screen is on 24/7, displaying the time. Some OLED smartwatches nowoffer an always-on screen mode, but this one is clearer than all of them in bright sunlight,because it thrives on ambient light. It's only indoors or on a glum day that it looks bit dim, atwhich point you'll want to call upon the blue-y front light.

This automatically comes on when you press a button or make a flicking movement with yourwrist. And there's also an ambient light sensor under the display to judge the required level.

The Pebble Time Round is a fundamentally low-tech setup, though. There's Bluetooth and anote-taking microphone, but no Wi-Fi. And no heart rate sensor. And definitely no GPS. Sorry.2016-02-29 17:37 By Andrew

85 iPad Air 3 release date, UK price & features rumours: iPad

Air 3 tipped for 21 March unveiling with super-fast A9Xprocessor

The iPad Air 2 came out in October 2014, but inOctober 2015 came no iPad Air 3. Could that bebecause it's due this March, as the latest rumoursreport?

The iPad Air 2 is thinner, lighter and morepowerful than its predecessor, with new featuresincluding the Touch ID fingerprint sensor. ButApple won't stop there. We've gathered all of theiPad Air 3 release date, price and featuresrumours in one place so you'll know when theiPad Air 3 is coming out and what it's going to be like. You might also like: iPhone 7 rumours ,iPhone 6S rumours

Update 29 February: We've heard several potential dates for Apple's iPad Air 3 launch - first 9March, then 15 March, and now 21 March. Either way, the company is holding a special event inMarch, during which it will unveil the Apple Watch 2 , iPhone 5se and this iPad Air 3.

iPad Air 3 UK release date: 21 March 2016 (TBC)

A look back over Apple's iPad release history would suggest that the next iPad shouldhave arrived in October 2015, yet it did not. Instead, the iPad mini 4 , the device with which itwould usually share its launch event, was unveiled alongside the iPhone 6s , iPhone 6s Plus andiPad Pro in September 2015. There was no October event.

The iPad Air 2 was unveiled on 16 October, and was released later the same month, while thefirst iPad Air was announced on 22 October 2013 before a November release.

A report from 9to5Mac suggests Apple will be holding a special event in March 2016.Headlining that event will be the Apple Watch 2, iPhone 5se and the iPad Air 3. Also see: Whatto expect from Apple's March event.

The latest reports suggest that event will be held on 21 March 2016. You might also like: What toexpect from Apple in 2015

It's likely that the iPad Air 3 will cost around the same as the iPad Air 2 does now. So that's astarting price of around £399 for the WiFi-only 16GB model, ranging up to £659 for the WiFi +Cellular option with 128GB capacity.

The good news is that the iPad Air 2 will probably come down in price by around £80, and willstill be a fantastic tablet.

You might also like: iPad Air 2 vs iPad mini 3 comparison

We didn't expect Apple to change the design of the iPad when it launched the iPad Air 2, but thecompany surprised us by making the already thin and light device even slimmer. It's 6.1mm thickcompared with the 7.5mm of the original iPad Air.

We think 6.1mm is thin enough, but don't be surprised to see Apple shave even more off of theiPad Air's profile with the next model. Apple is rumoured to be building it from even strongeraluminium than before, so it's certainly plausible.

We expect the same Gold, Silver and Slate Grey colour options (the Gold option was introducedto the iPad with the latest model), with the potential addition of a Rose Gold model.

It's also rumoured that the iPad Air 3 will feature a Smart Connector for accessories, as seen inthe iPad Pro, and support the Apple Pencil stylus.

Leaked photos of an iPad Air 3 case suggest the iPad will also get the Pro's four front-facingspeakers.

It's possible that other aspects of the iPad Air's design could change, though, but we'll have towait for more evidence to mount to find out what those tweaks could be.

We're expecting Apple to continue its tradition of launching a new, more powerful chip for eachmodel of iPad, so a super-powerful A9X chip (as seen in the iPad Pro) for the iPad Air 3 islikely. Indeed, Bloomberg reports: " In March, Apple intends to announce an updated iPad andsmaller-screen iPhone featuring the latest A9x and A9 chips, according to a person familiar withthe plans, who wasn’t authorized to comment publicly. "

The iPad Air 2 is already capable of up to 12 times faster processing than the very first iPad,and 180 times faster graphics.

Here's where we're hoping for some big improvements in the iPad Air 3. The iPad Air's Retinadisplay has a 9.7in display with a resolution of 2048x1536, equating to 264ppi. That's by nomeans a poor screen, but there's better out there and we hope Apple can improve upon it withits next tablet.

The iPad Pro has an even higher screen resolution of 2732x2048, for example, and that screencould well make its way to the iPad Air 3.

We're not expecting much change when it comes to cameras with the iPad Air 3. Apple doesn'tfocus too much on the camera in its tablets, but it did up the megapixel count in the iPad Air 2'srear-facing camera from 5Mp to 8Mp with the latest model, and it increased the megapixel counton its latest iPhones.

The company may make some tweaks to the camera to help it perform better in low light,however. The aforementioned leaked case photos show a large enough cutout for the iPad Air 3to feature a flash. Other upgrades might include additional camera modes.

We'll update this article with more iPad Air 3 rumours as they arrive, so keep this pagebookmarked and check back regularly for the latest speculation and evidence.2016-02-29 17:27 Ashleigh Allsopp

86 HTC Vive Pre VR headset release date, UK pricing, specs

and games: HTC Vive Pre UK pricing officially announced,pre-orders now open

Virtual reality is the next big thing, with uses forVR going way beyond gaming – it could be usedfor socialising, or even work. Virtual reality opensdoors to situations previously impossible, like asurgeon being able to operate on a patient on theother side of the world by popping on a headsetand VR-enabled controllers. HTC isn’t aloneeither, as the Oculus Rift and PlayStation VR bothalso have a 2016 release date. Here, wesummarise the latest rumours and factsregarding the Vive Pre headset including its UK

pricing, release date and spec. Read next: Hands on with the HTC Vive

HTC has announced the second-generation HTC Vive Pre, which will be released in place of theoriginal HTC Vive headset (can it really be the second generation when the first generationdevice wasn't released?). The Vive Pre headset sports an updated design which makes itlighter and more comfortable to wear over long periods of time, as well as the addition of a frontfacing camera. The job of the front facing camera is to merge virtual reality and real life, allowingusers to switch to a camera to observe their physical surroundings and enable them to pick upcontrollers, use their smartphone, etc. without having to take the headset off.

As well as this, the controllers have been redesigned to be more ergonomic and now featurerechargeable batteries. You can read our hands-on of the second generation HTC Vive Prehere: HTC Vive Pre hands-on: One of the most immersive VR headsets due out in 2016

Last updated to include UK pricing and pre-order information announced by HTC

So, when will we be able to buy the HTC Vive Pre? When the HTC Vive was originallyannounced, HTC claimed that a small number of consumer units would be available to purchasebefore the end of 2015. Of course, as we all know, that didn’t happen. Rumours then surfacedsuggesting that the HTC Vive would “premiere” on 8 December 2015, according to HTC’sProduct Commercialisation Manager Bartosz Zuk, who confirmed the date with Polish mediasources. However, there were issues regarding its authenticity, as it wasn’t clear whether Zukwas referencing the release date of the headset, or an event announcing it.

Turns out, that was a dud too. HTC took to its blog in December 2015 to ‘clear up speculationand misinformation’ and announced that “ We will be starting the new year by making anadditional 7,000 units available to developers, with pre-orders from the end of February followedby commercial availability in April 2016. ”

True to its word, HTC launched the pre-orders of the HTC Vive Pre headset (along with its twocontrollers and base stations) on 29 February 2016 at 3pm GMT, with bundles shipping in April2016. Those of us in the UK will have to pay out £689 for the kit, which when compared to the£499 Oculus Rift may seem pricey, but with the Vive Pre you also get two bespoke handheldcontrollers and a system that allows you to 'walk' around your virtual world - two features notavailable with the Oculus Rift. Although with that being said, HTC didn't mention that the £689price tag doesn't include the postage and packaging - including the £57.60 postage fee, UKbuyers paying a whopping £746.60. Ouch.

It's not all bad though, as HTC also confirmed that all pre-orders would receive three VR'experiences' to get you started - Job Simulator: The 2050 Archives, Tilt Brush and FantasticContraption.

The HTC Vive Pre VR headset is set to be a thing of beauty, and its spec is evidence of this.

The consumer model of the HTC Vive Pre headset will sport a 2160x1200px display, whichwhen split across two eyes equates to 1080x1200px for each eye. This should provide gamerswith a fantastically detailed environment to interact with – plus, it beats PlayStation VR’s960x1080px offering. The headset also has a refresh rate of 90Hz, which allows your games tobe rendered at 90fps (frames per second) and should remove the jitter present in otherheadsets, which contributes towards the feeling of nausea that some early VR adoptersexperienced.

As well as the display, the headset features more than 70 sensors to quickly and accuratelytrack head movement to 1/10th of a degree. The sensors include a gyroscope, accelerometerand laser position sensors that, when coupled with the ‘Lighthouse’ base station, allows the userto be tracked in a 15ftx15ft space. The ‘Lighthouse’ allows users to freely move around in avirtual space without the need to use joysticks, which helps the experience become moreimmersive and enjoyable overall. Front facing cameras allow the headset to identify static andmoving objects in your environment, and you’ll be visually warned when approaching an obstacle(tables, walls) in real life.

The inclusion of the ‘Lighthouse’ technology is particularly impressive and sets the HTC VivePre apart from its competition, especially as other mainstream VR manufacturers (Oculus andPlayStation) currently only support stationary head tracking.

As well as the Lighthouse base stations, the Vive Pre uses a set of specially designed handheldmotion controllers, providing users with an intuitive way to interact with the virtual world aroundthem. Want to use the handgun on the floor? You’re going to have to bend down and pick it up.Need to open a drawer? You’ll have to reach out, grab and pull back. The controllers featuretriggers for shooting, as well as a touch-sensitive pad and, of course, standard buttons.

The Vive Pre headset also sports a front facing camera. The job of the front facing camera is tomerge virtual reality and real life, allowing users to switch to a camera to observe their physicalsurroundings and enable them to pick up controllers, use their smartphone, unwrap their leg fromthe long HTC Vive Pre headset wire, etc. without having to take the headset off.

Weeks before the HTC Vive Pre was due to go up for pre-order, the official manual for thedeveloper version of HTC's VR headset appeared on the HTC website. This gave us a betteridea of how the Vive Pre would be used in the standard home, along with how to prepare yourgaming space for the headsets arrival. One of the most interesting discoveries from the manualwas that while the Vive Pre was designed to allow gamers the freedom of moving around withina virtual world, there's also the option for gamers to either sit down or stand in a single space,ideal for those with limited space.

It also notes that if you do want to move around your virtual environment using the HTC Vive Pre,you'll need a clear 5ft by 6.5ft space to do so. There's also a hint of third-party controller support,thanks to a built-in USB port in the headset. If you want to take a look at the manual for yourself,you can do so here.

See also: HTC Vive vs Samsung VR comparison review

So, what can we look forward to with regards to gaming with the HTC Vive? Will we have to waitfor months while developers add VR support? While this may be the case with certain games,there are a few games that either already feature HTC Vive Pre support, or will at its launch. Themost popular game that has HTC Vive support is Frontier Developments’ Elite: Dangerous, afirst-person space simulator that lets gamers pilot their own spaceship. The hugely populargame boasts a player base of over 500,000 and lets gamers explore, trade and battle in a vast1:1 scale universe.

The Gallery is another upcoming HTC Vive title, which provides an interesting workaround forthe limited (15ftx15ft) space you can walk around in. The developers provide gamers with theability to teleport over greater distances, similar to the Blink mechanic used in 2012 classicDishonored. Players apparently warp directly to any point in the game by pointing a reticule on

the ground where they want to teleport to. The movement system has been likened to a point-and-click adventure game, but with a modern, VR twist.

Read next: Everything you need to know about Samsung Gear VR2016-02-29 17:25 Lewis Painter

87 How to learn to code in 2016: everything you need to know

to start programming (including apps) right nowIf you want to learn to code, we explain whichlanguages you should learn - right now in 2016 -and how to start programming and creating yourown apps, websites and more. 2014 was theYear of Code in the UK, and the intention was toencourage people across the country to getcoding for the first time. In addition, programmingwas added to the school curriculum (replacingout-moded lessons in leaning, for example, howto use a mouse) in September so children asyoung as five are now learning to code.

Many people see this as the most significant shake-up since the BBC Micro was introduced toschools in the 1980s, a move that saw a huge resurgence in the fortunes of the British computerindustry. It will be some time before the impact of these moves becomes fully apparent ofcourse, but there’s strong evidence that the interest in programming that these initiatives broughtabout didn’t evaporate. Whether you're young, old or somewhere in between, programming isnot only rewarding - it can earn you good money as a career, too.

With so many different programming languages and, indeed, types of programming, the firstconsideration is which languages you should invest your time and effort in learning. Do you wantto create apps for smartphones and tablets? Would you like to design and build websites?There's even the programming of the embedded computers which are built into everything fromyour TV to your car. Each area requires radically different code, so while we can't decide whichis best for you, we'll explain where to start looking.

If you expect to be learning to code in full-time education, there’s a good case for working withthe languages most commonly used in schools. Alternatively, for those who hope to employ theircoding skills in the workplace, we’ll give some thought to which languages are used in industryfor various applications. Just knowing which languages to learn isn’t enough, though. So we’llalso provide some guidance on what software you need in order to learn each language andwhich resources and courses will help you in your quest.

It’s important to recognise that there’s no single best language, though. In preparing this articlewe spoke with Mark Chambers, CEO of Naace, a community of educators, technologists andpolicy makers who share a vision for the role of technology in advancing education. Mark waskeen to avoid recommending specific languages, indeed the National Curriculum doesn’trequire particular languages to be taught.

One of the two most commonly used programming languages in schools is Scratch which wasdeveloped by the Lifelong Kindergarten Group at the MIT Media Lab. Unlike most languages,Scratch programs are created by linking blocks together on screen. This allows students to learnabout the structure of programs and the concept of algorithms but without having to learn syntax,that is the exact textual format of an instruction in a conventional language. In addition, becausethe blocks resemble jigsaw pieces, their shapes reduce the likelihood of blocks beingconnected together when the end result would be nonsensical.

Despite this unconventional approach, Scratch genuinely is a procedural language, as are mostof the popular computer languages, but with the notable exception of some of those used in Web

design that we’ll look at later. In other words, it allows the programmer to define a sequence ofoperations for the computer to carry out.

Scratch is often used in primary schools but it would be unwise to set an upper age limit, abovewhich a student should learn a conventional language instead. It’s also used in secondaryschools, indeed it could be beneficial for anyone who has never coded before, while recognisingthat it will always be a stepping stone to the types of language that are used in business andindustry. Scratch is available free of charge. You can either download a version to use offline oryou can create programs directly on the website. Another block-based language that is gainingpopularity is Google Blockly – see our guide to getting started with Blockly

When there was last a big push on teaching computing in schools, BASIC was the language ofchoice since it was available on the BBC Micro as well as on many of the cheaper homecomputers of the time. Although it was designed as an educational language, though, BASIC’scontinued use for learning to programme is the subject of some debate. Some would argue thatit’s an old-fashioned language that will get students into habits they’ll find it hard to break whenthey start to learn newer languages. Others say that, because it’s such a simple language, itbetter parallels the way processor work than more modern languages and is useful because itprovides this insight.

Pragmatically, BASIC is still taught in schools quite extensively because it’s more familiar to alarge number of teachers. What’s more, in contrast to the “bad habits” argument, there aresuggestions that it’s useful to learn different programming paradigms, something that studyingnewer languages alone won’t provide. All of this seems to suggest that BASIC is still a goodlanguage to learn, at least as part of the mix.

In its 50 years, BASIC has spawned a huge number of dialects. Newer versions of BASICinclude concepts such as block structure and object orientation but there’s a lot to be said forsticking with a version that is true to its roots. For a fairly basic BASIC, but with extensions tocarry out graphics programming, SmallBASIC (not the same as another variant of the samename published by Microsoft) would be a good choice – it’s freely available fromhttp://smallbasic.sourceforge.net. Note that Microsoft’s Visual Basic (formerly called VisualBasic. NET and commonly still referred to as such), is very different from BASIC of old. Indeedthe current version of Visual Basic is object oriented (which we'll explain in the next section) andis another possible contender if you want to learn this type of language.

The second of today’s most popular languages in education is Python. Unlike BASIC, thisadheres to current thinking in programming such as block structure and object orientation. Assuch, it’s similar to C++ and C# which are widely used in industry (together with theirpredecessor C), although Python is generally considered as easier to learn. We’re not going todelve into exactly what object orientation actually means – after all that will be something you’dbecome familiar with if you were to learn Python – but suffice to say that expertise in this type oflanguage would be a very useful skill. You can download a Python interpreter fromhttps://www.python.org/ - it’s free.

With the explosive growth in the uptake of Android smartphones and tablets , it would be quitenatural to want to learn to create your own Android apps, a large majority of which are written inJava (not the same as JavaScript that we discuss later). In addition, Android’s popularity meansthat learning this language could be a good move from the viewpoint of career prospects.

This is another object orientated language so would be a logical progression from Python or, ifyou don’t fancy learning two similar languages, an alternative to Python, albeit one that’s not ascommonly used in schools. If you want to learn Java you have several options. The JavaDevelopers’ Kit (JDK) is freely available and runs on your PC. There are also several onlineresources that allow you both to enter and run your code in a web page – see, for example,www.compilejava.net .

However, if you specifically want to try your hand at Android app development, you’ll needAndroid Studio and, in addition to the Java language, you’ll need to learn about the Android

environment. You can download Android Studio but you’d be advised, first of all, to get to gripswith Java itself before turning your attention to Android.

Most of today’s most popular languages are object oriented. Although the syntax varies betweenthe different languages, having learned one such language you’ll be in a good position tomigrate to another. If you want to discover which are the most commonly used in industry today,take a look at the Ttiobe index. Here's a section of Python code:

Coding for the web is very different from everything we’ve seen so far since, at its most basic, ituses a completely different type of language. Even so, it’s a vital skill to learn. To create thesimplest of web pages you’d use a language called HTML (and ideally the latest version,HTML5) which stands for HyperText Markup Language. As a markup language, it doesn’tprovide a list of instruction that are executed in sequence as procedural languages do but,instead, it describes how text and images are displayed on screen. Quite a lot of an HTMLdocument will be the text you see on screen when it’s displayed on the web but, crucially, thattext will be interspersed with so-called tags. For example, if some text is preceded by

following it, that portion of the text is displayed as a level 1 heading. This is just a simpleexample and it gets more involved when you start to add graphics, tables and links, but theconcept of tags applies throughout.

Trying your hand at writing HTML requires software that will already be on your PC. You cancreate an HTML document using an ordinary text editor like Notepad and, so long as you give ita filename that ends with.htm or .html, double clicking on it in Windows Explorer will cause yourdefault Web browser to display it, just as if it was hosted on the web. In addition, most webbrowsers will allow you to see the HTML source code that generated the page you’re viewing.However, going beyond this, dedicated HTML editors (e.g. CoffeeCup Free HTML Editor fromwww.coffeecup.com ) offer additional features such as colouring tags for easy identificationwhile editing, and perhaps the ability to preview how your page will appear in a browser. Inaddition to writing HTML code, unless you’re working as part of a multi-disciplinary team, you’llalso need some graphics design skills. While we need to mention this to present the full picture,it would be stretching a point to refer to this aspect of web design as coding.

A webpage created using HTML alone will be static but other languages allow you to createdynamic content. The very first step in this direction is the use of another language called CSSwhich stands for Cascaded Style Sheets. We’ve seen how text can be turned into a header inHTML and, in the simplest of cases, the browser will use its own default font, size and colour foreach level of heading. HTML does allow you to define these characteristics yourself but CSSprovides a better way. Now a separate CSS file defines exactly how each of the heading levelsappears, making it easy to alter the appearance of an HTML document purely by specifying adifferent CSS file. Using a CSS file, every page on a company website can be given the samecorporate look and feel without having to repeat the formatting information in every single HTMLfile.

The next stage in making web pages dynamic is to add code that responds to the user’sactions. This sort of dynamic code is executed, for example, when you login to a website. Whilewe’re not going to get too involved in this here, it’s important to recognise that this involves theuse of procedural languages, i.e. the ones that define sequences of instructions, rather thanmarkup languages like HTML or style sheet languages like CSS. In particular, a language calledJavaScript (which is quite different to Java that we looked at earlier) is often used to define codethat runs in the browser while PHP is used to define code that runs on the remote server thathosts your website.

You don’t have to go it alone if you want to learn to code as there’s plenty of help out there. Manywould-be programmers will already be learning to code at school, college or university but thereare plenty of resources, either for those not in full-time education, or for those who want toaugment their formal education.

The most easily accessible are the myriad online programming courses for just about any

modern language you could imagine. As well as Googling for your preferred language, be sureto take a look at Codecademy. Also look at adult education courses at your local collegesbecause being able to interact with a lecturer and chat with other students makes the learningexperience so much easier. While some colleges only provide courses on using computers andsoftware, some do offer evening programming courses at reasonable prices.

A concept that can benefit students in primary and secondary schools is the coding club. Theseare free, independent programming clubs for young people, that are led by volunteers and oftensponsored by industry, that aim to supplement the teaching given in class. Take a look at TheCode Club and CoderDojo , both of which tend to concentrate on the languages most used inschools, and Apps for Good that teaches young people to create apps.

We really hope that this guide has inspired you to get started in coding. Whichever language orlanguages you choose, and whether you decide to learn alone or in the company of like-mindedindividuals, there’s every chance that your learning experience will prove to be both a productiveand an exhilarating one, and we'd love to hear your feedback in the comments below.2016-02-29 17:24 Mike Bedford

88 Sony Xperia Z6 release date, news and rumors

Sony turned it all around with the Xperia Z5 ,making up for the lacklustre Sony Xperia Z3+ witha far more stable phone. It also benefited fromone of the best fingerprint scanners we've seenon a phone and a camera upgrade that made formuch clearer photos.

Yet we can't help but feel that Sony could havedone even more. There are still missing featuresand undercooked specs and there's only so manytimes the company can wheel out essentially the

same design, even if it has been increasingly polished.

But it's a tough market right now. If Sony wants to sway people away from the Samsung GalaxyS7 and LG G5 - and the upcoming HTC One M10 and iPhone 7 - it needs to make the very bestphone it can.

The Xperia Z6 is a confusing situation. Sony took to the stage at Mobile World Congress 2016to announce three new phones; the Xperia X , Xperia XA and Xperia X Performance. Theeagled eyed among you will note none of that trio bears the Z6 moniker.

The phones feature premium spec, with the Xperia X boasting a fingerprint scanner and a 23MPrear facing camera much like the Xperia Z5 - but the assumption is they will slide in below theflagship Z line. Or so we thought.

Sony didn't confirm whether these are its new flagship devices - thus killing off the Xperia Z6 andthe Z line - and since the launch it's not exactly made the situation any clearer.

Over MWC the question was put to a variety of spokespeople from the company and themessage was somewhat confusing.

Jun Makino Senior Product Marketing Manager at Sony Mobile told uSwitch "I can't comment onthe future, but we will not be releasing a Z6. " He said that Sony is "turning to the next stage, withthe Xperia X series".

But soon after, Sony denied this was the case. In a statement to techradar , a Sonyspokesperson said "Although we can never confirm about the future possibilities of our productline-up, we can share with you that we have no plan to launch Xperia Z6 at this stage. "

Emphasis on the "at this stage" part, suggesting that Sony does plan to announce the Xperia Z6

in the future. That was then followed by a statement to AndroidPIT from Sony Mobile US whichsaid, ""The Z series is not going away. We want to make it clear. "

At the moment it's all very confusing and we are pressing hard at Sony to get clarification onwhether we will see an Xperia Z6. What is certain is we won't see an Xperia Z6 for quite sometime.

Here's our look at the Xperia X and what it means for the Xperia Z6.

Sony released the Xperia X range at MWC 2016 in February, and the handsets will go on salesometime this summer.

Usually we see an Xperia launch at both MWC and IFA in September, so it may be that Sonyhas chosen to give the Xperia Z6 a miss in Barcelona and just go for an IFA launch this year.Fingers crossed for Berlin then.

So far little is known about the Sony Xperia Z6, but early rumblings are promising.

For one thing it could apparently have a completely new design , with metal playing a big role.The Sony Xperia Z5 and most other Sony flagships have a metal frame with a glass back, soperhaps Sony will be ditching the glass and going all-metal.

Other early rumors include a Snapdragon 820 chip, which is exactly what we'd expect to seegiven that it's likely to be the main flagship processor of 2016.

The Xperia Z6 is also said to have a 5.2-inch screen, just like the Xperia Z5. There's no realnews on what the resolution will be, but what it apparently won't be is 4K, despite Sonyintroducing that resolution on the Xperia Z5 Premium.

So in all likelihood we're looking at either a 1080p or QHD screen which may benefit from 3DTouch-like technology if rumors are to be believed .

There are also a few things we can take a good guess at, like that the Xperia Z6 will probablyhave a 23MP camera, given that Sony only just upgraded the sensor for the Z5, and that it willonce again have a fingerprint scanner.

We'd wager it will be dust and water resistant as usual too, though if Sony does change thedesign it's possible that it won't be.2016-02-29 17:03 By James

89 Best Samsung Galaxy S7 deals: Where to buy Galaxy S7 &

Galaxy S7 Edge – UK pre-orders & a free Gear VRThe Samsung Galaxy S7 and Samsung GalaxyS7 Edge are the new flagship smartphonesreleased by Samsung during MWC 2016.They've been given an 11 March release dateand you can pre-order now. Plus, if you pre-orderyou'll get a free Gear VR that works with it too.Here, we bring you the best Samsung Galaxy S7deals and best Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge dealsfrom across the web, including the best place tobuy the Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge oncontract, and where to buy them SIM-free.

If you'd like to find out more about the new phones to help make your decision about whether ornot you should buy one, you can read our Samsung Galaxy S7 hands-on review and ourSamsung Galaxy S7 Edge hands-on review .

Samsung has revealed that it will be hosting a Blue Box Day promotion on 1 March for one day

only, offering discounts on tablets, mobiles, wearables and home appliances. We don't know forsure whether it'll include the Galaxy S7 or Galaxy S7 Edge, but it'll be well-worth checking backto find out.

Click here to visit the Blue Box Day promotion on Samsung's site .

Plus, as part of Blue Box Day, Paypal is said to be offering 0% finance on products purchasedfrom the Samsung Online Shop on 1 March, which could help spread out the cost. It'll work out ataround £24 per month for the Samsung Galaxy S7 with Paypal finance, for example.

So far, Carphone Warehouse is winning the title of best place to buy the Galaxy S7. The retailerhas teamed up with Samsung to offer the Galaxy S7 pre-order with a free Gear VR worth £79.99and if you get in quick you'll even get it three days ahead of everyone else on 8 March.

The same goes for Mobiles.co.uk , which offers essentially the same deals with the samebonuses: the free Gear VR and early delivery.

Not only that but the contract prices are some of the best around too:

If you're looking for the best Samsung Galaxy S7 deal with no upfront cost, the best optionsinclude:

Elsewhere, you can find some good deals for the Samsung Galaxy S7 too, but none are quite asgood as Carphone Warehouse's offerings. The best Samsung Galaxy S7 deal to offer unlimiteddata comes from Three but you're looking at a hefty monthly outlay here and you won't get a freeGear VR.

Carphone Warehouse also offers the Galaxy S7 with the free Gear VR and early delivery SIM-free if you'd prefer to buy the phone outright and have a lower monthly cost. It'll cost you £569.99.View deal here.

Alternatively, you can pre-order from Samsung itself for 99p less, at £569. Samsung will alsosend your new phone out three days early and you'll get that free Gear VR. View deal here.

It's worth noting that the price of the Galaxy S7 and the Galaxy S7 Edge (which we talk moreabout below) is likely to drop quite quickly after launch. You won't get the free Gear VR after pre-orders are over but if you're not fussed about virtual reality and you don't need a new phone rightaway it could be worth waiting. Also see: Samsung Galaxy S7 vs LG G5.

If you've got a bit of extra budget and are looking for something more, the Edge version of theGalaxy S7 adds a stunning curved display that wraps around the edges of the device. That ofcourse adds to the price of the handset but you'll still get the free Gear VR and if you order fromCarphone Warehouse or Mobiles.co.uk you'll still get it ahead of everyone else.

With a free phone, you're looking at higher monthly costs:

Like the Galaxy S7, the Edge is available SIM-free from the likes of Carphone Warehouse andof course Samsung itself. It'll cost you £639 from Samsung and that extra 99p from CarphoneWarehouse.

As mentioned above, the price of the Galaxy S7 Edge is likely to drop within the first few monthsof its release so if you're not in a rush and want to save a bit of money you should wait and seethe deals and discounts on the phone in the coming months.2016-02-29 17:01 Ashleigh Allsopp

90 Best web browser 2016: Chrome vs Firefox vs Edge vs

Safari vs IE and moreWhen you first turn on a new PC or laptop , you’ll find that your only route to the internet is viaInternet Explorer or, if you’ve just bought a machine running Windows 10 , Microsoft’s new Edge

web browser.

The first thing most people do – even beforedownloading some up-to-date antivirus software– is to download their favourite web browser. Andthanks to StatCounter’s browser stats (taken fromOctober-December 2015), you can see whichare the most popular:

Google Chrome, then, is by far the most usedbrowser which accounts for over half of webtraffic, followed by Safari in a distant second

place. Internet Explorer comes in third, with Firefox fourth. (Note that Chrome is no longersupported on Windows XP and Vista. Strictly speaking, it will be supported until April 2016, butGoogle recommends you upgrade your OS. For more details, see Google's blog post. )

Of course, you can’t always believe statistics – the US government’s figures put IE in secondplace for the same period with 24% - but all agree that Chrome is by far the most popular.

That’s one measure of the ‘best’ web browser, but there are others too.

Previously we have reviewed the top six web browsers, benchmarking them for speed andrating them on features. The problem with that approach was that all of these browsers areupdated constantly, meaning that those reviews quickly became outdated. And that’s why we’renot offering benchmark results here.

Google, Mozilla, Microsoft and Apple also add, change and remove features in those regularupdates, so on the odd occasion, a feature which was a reason to use a particular browserwould vanish overnight.

Even if a browser is better than its rivals because of performance, security or features, they’re allfree and there’s no limit to how many you can install or run at the same time. So while manywould agree when we say that Google Chrome is the ‘best’ web browser, there’s nothingstopping you from using five or six different browsers.

At PC Advisor we all use multiple browsers on a daily basis. Those of us running Windows useChrome and Firefox most of the time with IE or Edge when necessary, while Mac users will usea blend of Safari, Chrome and Firefox.

And all of these browsers offer decent performance and compatibility. They all offer to save yourpasswords and aside from Internet Explorer (and to some extent Microsoft Edge) they will syncyour data, favourites and tabs between multiple computers and devices so you can grab yourphone and carry on reading where you left off on your laptop.

They all support extensions and add-ons so you can add specific features, shortcuts andwidgets, with the exception of Edge which still doesn’t have this capability.

If a specific extension isn't available on your favourite browser, simply check and see if it foranother browser. Similarly, if a website isn't displaying properly or working in one browser, tryanother. These are the most common reasons why we use more than one browser.

Here's a table which summarises the main features, as well as which platforms each browsersupports. Chrome, Firefox and Opera are the most compatible. You might find older versions ofSafari for Windows, but it's no longer kept up to date by Apple.2016-02-29 16:59 Jim Martin

91 IBM buys Resilient Systems, aims to offer response

'playbooks' to security incidentsIBM has acquired Resilient Systems in a move to beef up its security operations and offer

automated response playbooks to attacks.

Terms of the deal weren't disclosed, but Resilientbrings a platform to orchestrate and automateresponses to security incidents. Resilient isbased in Cambridge, Mass.

With the RSA Security conference kicking off, itappears that orchestration and automationplatforms to respond to breaches and attacks aregoing to be popular. For instance, Akamai onMonday announced updates to its Kona SiteDefender service that will bolster automation todistributed attacks.

Resilient, which has about 100 employees, will form a pillar in IBM's X-Force Incident ResponseServices. IBM has a consulting and software unit that helps enterprises thwart as well asmanage attacks. Resilient's platform will be combined with IBM's QRadar intelligence platformas well as integrated across Big Blue's security portfolio.

In a nutshell, Resilient provides automated response playbooks for security incidence as well asa knowledge base on regulatory and compliance needs.

For IBM, security is one of markets expected to put the company on a better growth path. WithResilient, IBM is planning to offer analytics, prevention, detection and response technologies inone bundle.2016-02-29 16:57 Larry Dignan

92 Surveillence outfit Hacking Team may have released a new

piece of OS X malwareSecurity researchers have identified a new piece of OS X malware that maycome from Hacking Team, the controversial Italian company that sells

surveillance software to governments.

The malware is a "dropper," which is used to plant other software onto a computer. In this case,it appears intended to install Hacking Team's Remote Control System (RCS).

"The dropper is using more or less the same techniques as older Hacking Team RCS samples,and its code is more or less the same," wrote Pedro Vilaca, an OS X security expert withSentinelOne, on his blog.

It's difficult to determine if Hacking Team is using the dropper or if someone else took the codeand has added a few improvements. Hacking Team suffered a devastating data breach in July2015 that saw the release of 400GB of data, including source code and exploits.

"Either this is an old sample or HackingTeam are still using the same code base as before thehack," Vilaca wrote.

Two variations of the code were uploaded about three weeks ago to VirusTotal, the freescanning service from Google. At that time, no antivirus products detected the code.

One of the improvements is that the malware uses Apple's native OS X encryption scheme anda custom packing method, wrote Patrick Wardle, director of research with the Synack.

Vilaca wrote that it also uses an anti-debugging trick to make analysis by security researchersmore difficult. Still, Vilaca wasn't complimentary about the new sample.

"Until now, nothing spectacular," he wrote. "Either this is an old sample or HackingTeam are stillusing the same code base as before the hack. "

Hacking Team has been accused in the past by privacy and human rights groups of selling itssoftware to governments with poor human rights records.

The leaked data included a client list and indicated Hacking Team had relationships withgovernments such as Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kazakhstan, Morocco, Nigeria,Oman, Saudi Arabia and Sudan.

The company remained defiant after the hacking, saying it did not sell tools to governmentsillegally. Despite such a large data breach, Hacking Team remains in business.2016-02-29 16:55 Jeremy Kirk

93 Apple Watch 2 UK release date, feature and specification

rumours: Apple March event 'pushed back by a week'The Apple Watch may have only startedappearing on wrists less than a year ago, but thathasn't stopped the Apple Watch 2 rumour millfrom churning. We first set eyes on the originalApple Watch back in September 2014 and we'vehad plenty of time to think about how Apple couldmake it even better next time round (it's a firstgeneration product, after all). Plus, since we gotour hands on the smartwatch it's becomeapparent that it's not perfect, and that there isroom for improvement. So here, we've listed allthe latest Apple Watch 2 rumours along with what we hope to see in the second-generationwearable. You'll also like: Complete guide to the Apple Watch

Read next: 15 best smartwatches of 2016

Last update (29/02/2016): Updated to include new release date information

There's no official word on when a new Apple Watch 2 might arrive, and rumours are few and farbetween, but we'll be updating this article with all of the information we find as soon as itemerges so watch this space.

The latest rumour suggests the new Apple Watch will be here in mid- to late 2016, according to Apple Insider. However, the rumour has arisen from a Cowen and Company report, and it'sunclear whether it's based on any research or purely speculative.

Rumours then suggested that the Apple Watch would enter trial production by the end of January2016. The report, first picked up by GforGames, suggests that first-generation Apple Watchmanufacturer Quanta is set to enter trial production for the second-gen werable by the end of theJanuary, with a potential April 2016 launch date. If true, it means that we'd see the second-generation Apple wearable a year after Apple introduced the product to the market (in a similarway that it upgrades its iPhones and iPads).

If the latest rumours are to be believed, we may not be seeing the Apple Watch until later on thisyear, possibly not until September 2016. However, it seems that Apple is planning to host anevent on 15 March 2016 where it'll be announcing the iPad Air 3 and its 4in iPhone, coined theiPhone 5se. Alongside these two new products will sit a number of new Apple Watch bands -according to a 9to5Mac source, we'll be seeing the announcement of new Sports band coloursas well as a black Milanese Loop band and a completely a new band, created from a newmaterial.

Update (29/02/2016): Rumours originally suggested that Apple was to host an event on March15 to showcase the iPhone 5se along with a number of new Apple Watch bands, although now itseems to have changed. Don't fret, though, as according to AppleInsider, you won't have to waitmuch longer. Sourcing UnderKG, the publication claims that Apple has pushed back the

announcement by a week, and the event will now take place on Tuesday 22 March 2016. Thesource doesn't have the best track record when it comes to leaks, although it did get its handson the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus before they were announced by Apple.

We put together a wishlist of the features we want to see in the Apple Watch 2 just days after wegot our first glimpse of Apple Watch last year, but now we've got some actual rumours to add toit, which allegedly come from sources familiar with Apple's plans, according to 9To5Mac.

New details indicate that the Apple Watch 2 will be packed with new improvements, which couldinclude a front-facing video camera for FaceTime chats, and a wireless chipset that will makethe watch capable of standing on its own.

According to Digitimes , Apple is currently seeking a second manufacturer to help it build theApple Watch 2. "With a plan to release a second-generation Apple Watch in 2016, Apple iscurrently talking to Inventec, Wistron and Foxconn Electronics (Hon Hai Precision Industry) toseek another manufacturer aside from Quanta Computer," it reports.

The latest patent to hit the internet regarding the highly-anticipated Apple Watch 2 is aninteresting one. Instead of focusing on the design of the Watch or its hardware, this latest patentis more software orientated. The patent is entitled " Volume Control for Mobile Device Usinga Wireless Device " which was filed back in 2015 along with a slew of other Apple Watchrelated patents. The patent describes a device that can adjust the alert volume of the iPhonebased on the level of sound generated.

But how would this be achieved? According to the patent, Apple would use the smartwatch'sbuilt-in microphone to grab a sample of the iPhone ringtone, analyse it and adjust the volume ofthe iPhone accordingly. Though it seems a bit pointless, it could mean the end of missingnotifications - if the iPhone's alert volume is too low, the Watch would notice and increase itsvolume. It could also work the other way around too, with loud alerts being turned down in quietsituations, such as in the office or a library.

With a FaceTime camera on the second-generation Apple Watch, users would be able to makeand receive video calls via their wrists. It's apparently designed to sit in the top bezel of theApple Watch 2. When WatchOS 2 arrives later this year as an update for the current AppleWatch, FaceTime audio calls will become available on the smartwatch, which could be anindication that the company will soon move on to video calls.

In addition to the rumours about a camera in the Apple Watch 2, 9To5Mac's sources also saythat the next Apple Watch will rely less on the iPhone, thanks to a new feature it's dubbedtetherless.

The current Apple Watch relies heavily on the iPhone for almost every feature, aside from limitedactivity tracking, music playback and mobile payment. Should the rumours be true, the AppleWatch 2 should be more capable when your iPhone isn't connected, thanks to a new wirelesschipset that should allow most tasks to be handled directly from the smartwatch.

Another rumour to come from 9To5Mac's report suggests that Apple will add one new design tothe Apple Watch 2, which will sit between the steel Apple Watch (£949) and the Apple WatchEdition (£8,000).

One of the biggest complaints about the Apple Watch is the battery life. It should last for a day,but in many cases users have found themselves unable to make the Apple Watch last past 6pm,sometimes even earlier. Plus, the drain it puts on your iPhone's battery is quite significant too.

However, Apple has apparently deemed the Apple Watch's battery life sufficient, so doesn'tintend to make any significant improvements there, according to 9To5Mac. That's disappointingnews!

We think Apple needs to improve the battery life in the second generation to address the issue,because it's a pretty important one. In addition, if the battery was able to last a bit longer the

Apple Watch could be used to track your sleep, something that many other fitness trackers arecapable of.

When you compare the Apple Watch's battery life to the likes of the Pebble Time Steel 's 10 daybattery life, it's makes the Apple Watch's 'all day if you're lucky' battery life look quite terrible.

If you already own an Apple Watch and are struggling with the battery life, try some of our tips formaking the Apple Watch battery last longer .

You might also like: Best Apple Watch charging stands

The rest of the features in this article are features that we hope to see in the next version ofApple's smartwatch.

This is something that Pebble has already allowed for the Pebble Time and Pebble Time Steel,so we'd like to see it arrive for the Apple Watch too. Third-party manufacturers could createSmart Straps that connect to the Apple Watch to bring additional features such as extra batterypower, built-in LEDs that flash when you get a notification, extra sensors to improve workouts –the possibilities are endless.

Another downfall of the Apple Watch is that it uses the iPhone's GPS rather than built-in GPS, soyou'll need to have your iPhone with you if you want to accurately track a run, for example.

There are already reports of smashed and scratched Apple Watches appearing on the web, andwhile we'd love to say that Apple will definitely address this with the next Apple Watch, the historyof the iPhone has made it clear that's probably not the case.

The iPhone has yet to have been given the waterproof treatment either, but we'd think thatmaking the Apple Watch waterproof is even more important, particularly if it means the devicewould be cable of tracking swimming activity too.

Right now, the Apple Watch does boast some water resistance that's IPX7 rated, which meansyou should be fine if you're out with your Apple Watch in the rain, but Apple doesn't recommendwearing it in the shower so definitely not a swimming pool.

We were slightly disappointed when the Apple Watch was unveiled with a rectangular display.We'd fallen in love with the LG G Watch R , and since then a number of other stunning roundAndroid Wear smartwatches have surfaced including the Motorola Moto 360. In fact, a newcircular smartwatch from Samsung is expected to launch very soon.

Now that we've spent some time with the Apple Watch and seen how small it really is in the flesh,the rectangular display has grown on us, but that doesn't mean we're completely satisfied. We'dlike the option of a circular watch face in the future, and perhaps that'll come with Apple Watch 2.We've already mentioned that the Apple Watch is surprisingly small, particularly if you opt for the38mm model, but it is a little bit on the thick side for our liking. It measures 10.5mm, which isn'ttoo bad but if we had to choose one design tweak for the next generation Apple Watch we'dprobably suggest making it thinner. It can be tricky to fit it beneath snug shirtsleeves, which isless than ideal if you plan on wearing it every day.

This is probably a long shot but we'd like the Apple Watch 2 to be cheaper. Rival smartwatchestend to be priced at under £200, so the starting price of £299 is a fair bit higher and if you wantthe Stainless Steel model or the larger watch face you're looking at an even bigger hole in yourwallet.

A complaint we've heard from many users of the Apple Watch is that the user interface is toocomplicated, and we can't help but agree. There are several different ways to interact with thesmartwatch and not all of them are obvious, so there's a steep learning curve that we're stillgetting to grips with after weeks of using it.

We'd like to see Apple take the time to simplify the UI to make it easier to use. We don't want tobe puzzling over a device that's designed to be used in 10-second intervals. Glances should be

just that but right now we're finding that we're spending up to 30 seconds looking at the AppleWatch and that's probably one of the contributors to that poor battery life.

We've yet to discover the killer app on the Apple Watch that would make us recommend buyingone to everyone, but not only that, most of the apps we have found from third parties are slowand buggy.

So our final feature on the wishlist is for better third party apps, and it's highly likely that our wishwill be granted with this one. As Apple updates the Apple Watch software and developers get togrips with how to design apps that work well on the device, we'll be seeing more and more greatapps, even for the current Apple Watch model.

Here are 10 of the best looking third-party apps for Apple Watch that are already available .2016-02-29 16:38 Ashleigh Allsopp

94 Brazilian science and tech ministry shrinks to cope with

recessionIT Budgets 2016: A CIO's Guide

It's budget planning time for technology decisionmakers as they look ahead to next year and planon where to focus their IT resources to make thebiggest impact. We've got perspectives andresearch to help inform those decisions.2016-02-29 16:34 Angelica Mari

95 In scathing ruling, judge

says Apple can't be forcedto unlock iPhones

Apple continues to fight the FBIover a request to create a bypass mechanism for iOS to let the governmentaccess the local contents of a dead terrorist's iPhone. But the same legal justification -- a 1789law called the All Writs Act -- has been used by the federal government in more than 70 cases toforce Apple to decrypt iPhones used by alleged criminals.

Today, James Orenstein, a federal judge in Brooklyn, N. Y., said the government's position wasdead wrong. The very strongly worded ruling said the government's assertions were deeplyunconstitutional, their results would be "absurd," and they give the courts the ability to imposeanything that Congress did not explicitly prevent.

Orenstein wrote:

The implications of the government's position are so far-reaching -- both in terms of what itwould allow today and what it implies about Congressional intent in 1789 -- as to produceimpermissibly absurd results....

The government's position also produces a wholly different kind of absurdity: the idea that theFirst Congress might so thoroughly undermine fundamental principles of the Constitution thatmany of its members had personally just helped to write or to ratify. Its preferred reading of thelaw -- which allows a court to confer on the executive branch any investigative authority Congresshas decided to withhold, so long as it has not affirmatively outlawed it -- would transform theAWA [All Writs Act] from a limited gap-filing statute that ensures the smooth functioning of thejudiciary itself into a mechanism for upending the separation of powers by delegating to thejudiciary a legislative power bounded only by Congress's superior ability to prohibit or preempt. Iconclude that the constitutionality of such an interpretation is so doubtful as to render itimpermissible as a matter of statutory construction. ...

It is wholly implausible to suppose that with so many of the newly adopted Constitution's draftersand ratifiers in the legislature, the first Congress would so thoroughly trample on that document'svery first substantive mandate: "All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in aCongress of the United States. "

The ruling is a significant one because it examines in depth the applicability of the All Writs Act,which gave the courts the ability to require people in some cases to comply with requests forinformation. The All Writs Act is the law that the FBI, federal prosecutors, and other governmentagencies use to try to force companies like Apple to actively aid their investigations by unlockingdevices protected via passwords and encryption.

After getting more than 80 such requests citing the All Writs Act, Apple asked the judge to"clarify" when and where the All Writs Act could be used to compel it to help. In his ruling, JudgeOrenstein goes through all the government arguments and demolishes them one by one -- andexplains why they apply far beyond the specific case he has been handling. Orenstein wrote:

The application before this court is by no means singular: the government has to datesuccessfully invoked the AWA to secure Apple's compelled assistance in bypassing thepasscode security of Apple devices at least 70 times in the past; it has pending litigation in adozen more cases in which Apple has not yet been forced to provide such assistance; and in itsmost recent use of the statute it goes so far as to contend that a court -- without any legislativeauthority other than the AWA -- can require Apple to create a brand-new product that impairs theutility of the products it is in the business of selling....

It is also clear that the government has made the considered decision that it is better offsecuring such crypto-legislative authority from the courts (in proceedings that had always been,at the time it filed the instant application, shielded from public scrutiny) rather than taking thechance that open legislative debate might produce a result less to its liking.

The government can compel companies to turn over data they have, Orenstein wrote -- whichApple has done every time it's been given a court order, he noted -- but it can't force privatecompanies to work on behalf of the government or against their self-interests. In Apple's case,that would be destroying Apple's ability to protect customer information held by those customers.Orenstein noted that Apple declined to help federal agencies bypass its own systems' security,which is perfectly legal. He disagreed with the government's characterization that declining tohelp equated with "thwarting" the government.

Orenstein wrote:

Ironically, around the time Orenstein issued his ruling, New York's top prosecutor warnedCongress that Apple's refusal to help the government unlock its devices "frustrates the ability oflaw enforcement to prevent, investigate, and prosecute criminals" -- one of the argumentsOrenstein rejected.

Apple is expected to testify before Congress tomorrow about its stand against breaking intousers' devices on behalf of government agencies. Apple has the support of Google andMicrosoft -- who also offer customers encryption technology -- as well as many other technologyfirms. And now it has the support of a federal judge.2016-02-29 16:33 Galen Gruman

96 Asus Chromebit CS10 review: The ChromeOS device that

can transform any TV into something truly smartBy

Martyn Casserly | 74 mins ago

£89.99 inc VAT

In the few years that Chromebooks have beenaround they’ve proven themselves to be easy-to-use, reliable, lightweight, affordable computersfor people who don’t need the power or price of ahigh-end PC. Now the Asus Chromebit CS10has taken this ethos a little further by taking thecore components and packing a full version ofChromeOS into a dongle the size of a Mars bar.

If you're wondering how this differs from anexisting device such as the Google Chromecast

2, then let us explain. With a Chromecast you can display photos, videos, or stream music fromthe internet, all on your TV. The difference lies in the fact that to do this you first need to send theinformation from another device, be it a tablet, laptop, or mobile phone, then the Chromecastgoes and finds it online. The Chromebit on the other hand doesn’t need any help, as it's a fullyfledged browser plugged directly into your television. This means you can surf the web, createand edit documents on Google Docs or MS Word Online, go through your email, or catch up withpeople of social media, just as you would on a normal Chromebook or Windows PC.

Having done away with a screen, keyboard, and touchpad, the CS10 has also lightened itself offinancial burden. At £69.99 from Amazon , it represents very good value for money, especially ifyou already have a Bluetooth keyboard or mouse lying around. The value obviously diminishessomewhat if you need to acquire these peripherals, but it does offer you the freedom to selectthe typing experience you prefer, rather than being stuck with the one that comes on your laptop.There’s also the added benefit for those who own tablets, as bluetooth keyboards can also workwith them. Of course the Chromebit isn’t the only dongle-style PC around, with Intel offering theCompute Stick for around £115, Hannspree's PC on a Stick , and a fair collection of Androidbased devices popping up regularly, but the simplicity of ChromeOS actually makes it feel bettersuited to this sort of format than its competitors.

There’s not really much to talk about in terms of design with the Chromebit. Essentially it lookslike a USB stick the size of a chocolate bar. At one end, under a removable cover, is the HDMIfitting to slots into your TV, in between is a small, circular power input, and at the other end you’llfind a USB 2.0 port. No lights, buttons, or other ephemera. Our review model came in black, butfor those with a flair for the dramatic there’s a bright orange alternative on its way.

As it might not always be practical to have something this long sticking straight out of the back ofyour TV, Asus has included two HDMI cables that allow you to position the Chromebit in a waythat best suits your needs. One is a short extension lead, while the other is a strong, bendableholder that can be adjusted to any angle. Nice touch.

Traditionally Chromebooks have never really been renowned for the ability to set land speeddata transmission records. They’re cheap, cheerful, and get the job done for most normal users’needs. The Chromebit follows this template, offering a perfectly acceptable level of performancefor general tasks. Streaming HD movies from the web or an attached USB device presented nodifficulties to the Chromebit, and we were able to work on writing this review while streamingmusic in another tab without issue. Having several web pages open simultaneously though,especially if they were image heavy sites, did mean things got bogged down. Facebookseemed a particularly naughty culprit, so maybe it would be worth closing that down when you’renot on the site if you want to keep things sprightly. The lack of pace could be due to the RockchipQuad Core RK3288C processor, but we suspect the majority of blame lies with the inclusion ofonly 2GB of RAM, which does seem below the comfortable minimun these days.

One part of performance that was more trouble than it needed to be was the initial setup. Inprinciple it should have been very easy. You plug in the device, turn it on, then turn on yourBluetooth keyboard and mouse, wait for them to attach, and you’re good to go. Well, it didn’tquite run that smoothly. On our first couple of attempts one of our peripherals would berecognised, but not the other. This was only rectified by resetting the device, via the Power

Wash function, and starting again.

Eventually the devices could talk to each other and we were able to get going, but we’d like tosee a firmware update, or even component change in future models to ensure a better firstexperience. That being said, we did try powering the Chromebit down and back up to see if itwould have the same problems, but it found the Bluetooth devices again without the need for anyhelp.

The main question about the Chromebit is what would you use it for? If you want to assemble acheap home PC for basic work and internet duties, plus you have a screen and peripheralsknocking around, then it’s an excellent, cost-effective device. Similarly if you travel frequently anddon’t want to watch movies on your laptop when you get to a hotel, the Chromebit could plug intothe back of a standard TV and stream or play content simply and quickly.

It’s not likely to replace a full home PC or laptop, although it’s possible that if you attached aUSB hub to the device then it could work as a normal desktop with wired peripherals. This couldin fact make it a decent starter machine for children, students, or anyone who just want to use theweb on a bigger screen.

It has a few quirks, and the initial setup needs work, but for less than a hundred pounds we thinkthis one is a winner.

How to buy flowers online: Cheap Mother's Day flowers - big savings plus an extra 15% off -When is?…

1995-2015: How technology has changed the world in 20 years

Best online Photoshop video tutorials: 6 video tutorial websites for Photoshop

Microsoft Word for Mac 2016 review: A subtle yet massive leap forward in usability and features2016-02-29 16:22 Martyn Casserly

97 Best power banks 2016: What's the best power bank? The

20 best power banks, portable chargers & emergencychargers you can buy in the UK today - best power bankreviews

What's the best power bank? The best powerbank is the Zendure A2, which strikes the perfectbalance between price, portability and capacity.Read more about the Zendure A2 and some ofthe best alternative power banks you can buy inour best power banks chart below.

Phones get faster every year, but battery lifedoesn't seem to get any better. If you need tokeep your smartphone - or tablet or other USB-powered device - going all day, you need apower bank. We've rounded up the 20 best portable chargers available in the UK in 2016. Alsosee: How to charge your smartphone or tablet faster

Update: EE has recalled all of its free Power Bars, as they may be a fire-safety risk. Here's whatto do if you have an EE Power Bar (you can get a £20 voucher for your troubles). We have alsotemporarily removed the Aukey Quick Charge power bank from our chart since several usershave reported concerns with the product overheating.

Power banks come in all shapes, weights and capacities, from emergency credit-card-sizeddevices such as the Onaji Pawa that offers a quick boost to keep you going until you get home,to the ultra-high-capacity LimeFuel Blast Pro L240X , which might charge your phone in excess

of 10 times - ideal if you’re going camping or have several devices to charge. Then there arethose able to recharge their own battery using solar power , which could mean you never needcharge your devices using mains power again. That could save you a few quid on the electricitybill - if you have the patience.

Several factors are important when choosing a power bank. One is portability: some of thepower banks we review are small and light enough to slip into a pocket; others you’ll notice theirpresence even when slung in a bag. Pay particular attention to their weight and avoid bulkydesigns if this is a device you'll carry every day, rather than in certain situations only.

Another factor is capacity. It’s important to note that a power bank will not deliver its fulladvertised capacity to your device – some of this energy is lost through heat generated andvoltage conversion. If a power bank manufacturer doesn’t expressly state otherwise, expect toachieve around 70 percent efficiency. A 10000mAh power bank might therefore deliver7000mAh of power. Some of the best power banks offer around 90 percent efficiency. Checkthe specification of your phone or tablet’s battery to estimate how many full charges you canexpect from this.

The input rating is key when it comes to recharging the power bank - the higher is this figure themore quickly it will charge. You'll usually see a figure in Amps, for instance 1A. You multiply thisnumber by the voltage (5V for USB) to find the rating in Watts. A 1A input can charge at 5W,therefore, but you'd do better to look for a device that can charge at 2A (10W).

Don’t expect to get a USB charger in the box - you can use that which was supplied with yourphone or tablet. Do note, however, that a power bank with a 2A (10W) input will not recharge itsown battery any faster than one with a 1A (5W) input when used with an underspecified USBcharger. The reverse is also true when it comes to charging your devices - a phone that supportsonly a 1A (5W) input won’t charge faster from a 2A (10W) output. See also: Expert tips on howto charge your phone

Some power banks support a feature known as passthrough charging, but expect to pay morefor this luxury. This allows them to function as a USB hub of sorts, meaning you cansimultaneously charge both the power bank itself and your mobile devices, and ensures thepower bank is always topped up and ready to go when you need it. You definitely don't want tobe getting up in the middle of the night to unplug your now-charged phone in order to fill up apower bank. (If you have only one mains adaptor, consider getting a desktop charger that cansimultaneously charge five or six USB devices from a single mains outlet.)

The output rating refers to how quickly a power bank will charge your devices. In most casesyou’ll find 1A (5W), 2A (10W) and often even 2.5A (12.5W) outputs, the former intended forsmartphones and the latter two for tablets or for fast-charging phones that support the feature.(This is not the same as the quick charging feature supported by newer phones such as theSamsung Galaxy S6.) You can use either output to charge any USB device - it will draw only thepower it needs. However, you might find some tablets - usually iPads - will refuse to charge fromlower-specified outputs. Also see: What is Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0?

Increasingly power banks feature clever technology which is often referred to as PowerIQ orsimilar. This allows the power bank to recognise the type of device you have connected forcharging and deliver the optimum amount of power for that device.

If a power bank has several outputs then the maximum total output capacity is key. For example,the LimeFuel Blast Pro L240X has four 2.4A (12W) outputs, but delivers only 4.2A (21W) totaloutput. With four USB devices attached you will find that each charges much more slowly.

The best power banks support auto-on and -off functionality, although some support auto-on onlyand others neither. Auto-on allows them to begin charging your device as soon as you plug it in,and auto-off causes them to switch off when them to switch off when the job is done, meaning nopower is unnecessarily wasted. Those that don't support this functionality will have a small powerbutton on their casing somewhere, which is typically also used to light up the LED flashlight (if

the power bank has one) or see how much capacity remains.

In most cases you’ll find a series of LEDs used to denote how much capacity remains. This isfine with smaller-capacity power banks, but with larger-capacity models you’ll find the massivejump in capacity between each LED leaves the system rather meaningless. Look out for powerbanks with LCD displays that are able to tell you the exact capacity remaining, so you’ll neverget caught short.

A very common feature in power banks is a built-in LED flashlight. This could come in useful oncamping trips, for example, but keep in mind that unless the device is reasonably portable andhas an ergonomic design you’re unlikely to use it as a torch. EC Tech’s 6000 - and 18000mAhpower banks are perhaps the best examples here: the smaller-capacity device looks and feelsjust like a flashlight; the latter is big, heavy and rectangular, making it a bizarre device to use asa torch.

The ideal power bank carefully balances useful capacity with portability, value, fastcharging/recharging, multiple outputs and high-end features such as passthrough charging andLCD displays. The closest we’ve found in this regard is the Zendure A2 , but we highlyrecommend all of the devices in this round-up, so you may find one better suited to your budgetor one with a design you prefer.

Follow Marie Brewis on Twitter .

This is a no-frills power bank from Lumsing that does exactly what it says on the box, but littleelse. Unless you need to charge three devices at once, you'll find better value for moneyelsewhere.

Read our Lumsing Glory P1 Fit review .

The TP-Link TL-PB10400 is a great-value power bank that has enough capacity to keep bothyour phone and tablet running away from the mains, while still being sufficiently portable to throwin a bag. Lumsing's alternative is cheaper, and you may prefer its design, but this TP-Link willrefill its own battery faster, it's better at showing how much capacity remains, and it includes anLED torch. Both will make great travel companions.

Read our TP-Link TL-PB10400 10400mAh Power Bank review .

We like the Emie Memo's fun design and its shake-activated power status feature, but we aren'tso taken on its confusing LED colour system - it's all back to front. It's not the best value formoney, but when compared to the similar OnePlus Power Bank free delivery means it works outcheaper. Auto-on/-off and passthrough charging are welcome features.

Read our Emie Memo review .

At £17.99 the Lumsing Power Bank is a fantastic buy, able to keep all your devices goingseveral days away from the mains. If you're planning a camping trip or going to a festival, takethe Power Bank with you.

Read our Lumsing 10400mAh Power Bank review .

The iHarbort offers excellent value for money, but the OnePlus Power Bank has the edge. If youuse an iPhone or iPad or are simply not a OnePlus fan you may well prefer this device's design,plus the fact free delivery is available from Amazon when you spend £20. Neither of thesedevices can match the smaller 5000mAh iHarbort, though, which is not only the cheapest powerbank we've ever reviewed but far more easily portable.

Read our iHarbort Power Bank MS031 10,000mAh review .

If you need a truly portable power bank for daily top ups, you won't find a better deal than thisIntocircuit PowerMini 3000 Power Bank. Cheap, well built, easily pocketable and with enoughcapacity to fill most smartphones once, the only drawback is in remembering to recharge the

power bank itself after each use.

Read our Intocircuit PowerMini 3000 Power Bank review .

We really like the OnePlus Power Bank. If it weren't for the shipping costs it would offer excellentvalue at £13.99, and we know OnePlus One fans will adore its design. You don't expect to findhigh-end features such as an LCD display and passthrough charging at this price, but the shake-activated LED status lights and auto-on functionality are welcome additions. More importantly,though, this power bank will keep any smartphone user going all day, all night and beyond.

Read our OnePlus Power Bank review .

We can't say enough just how pleased we are with the inclusion of Quick Charge 2.0 support inthis power bank, and if speed is important to you then no doubt you'll feel the same. iPhoneusers will also appreciate the Lightning input, although the Quick Charge functionality will be ofno use to them. In other respects there is nothing standout here, so if you won't benefit fromQuick Charge or Lightning you should look elsewhere.

Read our Choetech Portable Power Bank B611Q review .

Ignoring the dye issue with our first sample, the EliveBuy is a great power bank. It is welldesigned with a sturdy metal build, it's super-fast with QC 2.0 support on both the input andoutput, of a useful capacity, and comes at a great price. It's easily pocketable, too.

Read our EliveBuy 10,400mAh Power Bank review .

Incredibly well designed with excellent features including passthrough charging and an LCDpanel, a tough build and huge amounts of power, that £59.95 asking price doesn't look so highafter all. The only thing we can fault Zendure on is its low 3.1A/15.3W maximum output when youconsider that it has four outputs each possible of 2.1A/10.5W. We'd like to see Quick Chargesupport in a future generation, but this remains an excellent buy if your power needs are great.

Read our Zendure A8 Pro review .

The EasyAcc Power Bank offers astonishing value, and although we've seen power banks withnicer designs, few can match the features it offers at this price. Highly recommended.

Read our EasyAcc 10,000mAh PowerBank (PB100000CF) review .

The new Intocircuit Power Castle PC13000 and PC15000 are nicely designed, representingexcellent value and fast, easy charging for your phone and tablet away from the mains. The LCDdisplay is a great inclusion at this price. Recommended.

Read our Intocircuit Power Castle PC13000/PC15000 review .

It's chunkier in design than the similar Anker Astro Mini, and with only 620mAh more effectivepower capacity, but don't let that put you off. This 5000mAh Aukey power bank is faster tocharge your connected phone or tablet, offers easy operation with no physical buttons, andsupports passthrough charging. At a penny short of £11, you will have little reason to bedisappointed.

Read our Aukey 5000mAh External Battery Charger review .

Anker's Astro Mini is an extremely useful power bank, both pocketable and pretty, and able tooffer your smartphone a full charge away from the mains. At this price we can't fault it.Recommended.

Read our Anker Astro Mini 3200mAh review .

iHarbort's 5000mAh power bank is one of the best deals we've found, offering useful capacity ina stylish and truly pocketable package, support for auto-on/-off and passthrough charging, andthe most attractive price tag we've seen. At £7.50 you really cannot go wrong with the iHarbort

power bank.

Read our iHarbort Power Bank MS024 review .

It might not feature an LCD panel, passthrough charging, auto-on or less exciting features suchas a torch and carry case, but the Maximas XTRON is easily one of the best power banks we'veseen for the simple fact that it will be good for years to come. With standard USB and USB-Coutputs, you can use it to charge any device you like - including a new Apple laptop! The fact thatit's incredibly fast doesn't hinder this easy-to-recommend power bank either.

Read our Maximas XTRON review .

The Anker PowerCore+ 20100 USB-C is a very decent high-capacity power bank for fast-charging all manner of USB-connected devices, including USB-C models such as the Nexus 5Xand Nexus 6P - even if you don't have a USB-C smartphone now, chances are you will do at yournext upgrade. It's big and heavy, yet remains stylish and easy to use, and currently offers goodvalue at £32.99. We'd like to see such things as passthrough charging and an LCD screen, butthe LED power wheel is the best implementation we've seen, and we appreciate the Anker'sability to recharge itself in just over eight hours.

Read our Anker PowerCore+ 20100 USB-C review .

It’s not the most feature-rich or sexiest power bank (should such a thing exist), but the RavPoweris affordable, high in capacity, futureproof and oh so very fast. Highly recommended, even if youdon’t have a USB-C or Quick Charge 3.0 device right now.

Read our RavPower Turbo+ 20100mAh External Battery Pack review .

Perfectly balancing portability with capacity, the Xiaomi power bank's feature list andspecification is also much bigger than you'd expect. Brilliantly designed, the Xiaomi 10,000mAhPower Bank offers extraordinary value. It's a strong rival to the Zendure A2 in first place in ourchart, although the Zendure will prove easier to get hold of in the UK.

Read our Xiaomi 10,000mAh Power Bank review .

Zendure's A2 is one of the best power banks we've seen, mixing great value, build andportability with useful capacity. It has tough competition from the Xiaomi in second place in ourchart, but with a newly upgraded capacity, lower price point and easier availability in the UK, theA2 scoops the crown for best power bank available to buy in the UK today.

Read our Zendure A2 review .2016-02-29 16:21 Marie Brewis

98 RavPower Turbo+ 20100mAh External Battery Pack review:

The fastest power bank you can buy, and an awesomecompanion for the LG G5

By

Marie Brewis | 56 mins ago

See full specs

£34.99 inc VAT

The RavPower Turbo+ 20100mAh ExternalBattery Pack is currently the fastest power bankyou can buy, and an awesome companion for theLG G5 and other 2016 devices that support

Quick Charge 3.0 and USB-C. Also see: Best power banks 2016.

We’ve written a separate article explaining what is Quick Charge 3.0 , but in essence it offersthe fastest way to charge a compatible smartphone, such as the new LG G5 and Xiaomi Mi 5.All you really need to know is that it’s super-fast: whereas charging a generic smartphone batterywith a standard charger might take it from zero- to 30 percent in 35 minutes, Quick Charge 3.0could get its battery to 80 percent in the same amount of time. It’s a massive time-saver.

Not only does one of the RavPower’s two full-size USB outputs support Quick Charge 3.0, butit’s also supported on the Micro-USB input, meaning it will reduce the time it takes to fill thisvery-high-capacity power bank ( you’ll find some Quick Charge 3.0 wall- and car chargers here ).Or you can use the RavPower’s reversible USB-C port, which acts as both an input and outputand operates at 15W (5V/3A), making the Turbo+ easy to use with the likes of the Nexus 5X andNexus 6P , and the 12in Apple MacBook.

Quick Charge 3.0 is supported by only a handful of devices right now, but this will change verysoon - and in any case it’s backward-compatible with Quick Charge 2.0, which is much morecommon.

Even if you don’t have a Quick Charge or USB-C device just now, the RavPower is worth a lookas a future-proofing measure - if you intend to upgrade your smartphone within the next fewyears, it’s likely that it will come with one or both of these new technologies. In the meantime, theRavPower has a standard 2.4A (12W) USB output with iSmart device-recognition technologythat is able to deliver the optimum charge for your device type. Also see: How to charge yourphone's battery faster.

At £34.99 from Amazon UK (or $69.99 from Amazon US ), the RavPower Turbo+ really isn’tmuch more expensive than other high-capacity banks, for which you’d usually look to pay around£25- to £30.

Other than super-fast charging, though, there’s not a great deal here to make it stand out. Theblack plastic casing feels tough enough but it’s a little bland-looking, and we’d much prefer tosee an LCD rather than four-LED system to show how much juice remains in banks of thiscapacity. There’s no torch, no auto-off when a device has finished charging (at least not on ourSamsung Galaxy S6), and no passthrough charging. You do get a carry case and two flat Micro-USB cables, which is handy given the two USB outputs, but you’ll need to provide your ownUSB-C cable if you wish to use this port. Also see: Best desktop chargers 2016.

But a power bank is first and foremost a device that can get you out of a jam when you’re awayfrom mains power. This RavPower, with 20100mAh of power to hand, can do so time and again- you should get up to seven full charges for an iPhone 6s, five charges for a Samsung GalaxyS6 and two charges for an iPad mini. That does mean it’s fairly chunky at 172x80x20mm and375g (you won't want to carry it in a pocket), and not the most energy-efficient of power banks -no more than the industry standard 65 percent - but the fact it is quick to both charge andrecharge is definitely in its favour. And using it is easy: you just plug it in.

It’s worth clarifying our statement that the RavPower Turbo+ with QC 3.0 support is the fastestpower bank you can buy. There are power banks that claim to be faster, such as the SimpiziTron (we’re awaiting our review sample) which uses DUBI 1.0 to refill its 9000mAh battery injust 18 minutes, but its output to your phone is slower Quick Charge 2.0 rather than 3.0. And thenthere are those that claim to charge your phone in a seemingly unbelievable five minutes; we’rereserving our judgement on these until we’ve had a chance to thoroughly test one and seeexactly what strain it places on your hardware.

Read next: How to improve smartphone battery life .

Follow Marie Brewis on Twitter.

It’s not the most feature-rich or sexiest power bank (should such a thing exist), but the RavPoweris affordable, high in capacity, futureproof and oh so very fast. Highly recommended, even if youdon’t have a USB-C or Quick Charge 3.0 device right now.

How to buy flowers online: Cheap Mother's Day flowers - big savings plus an extra 15% off -When is?…

1995-2015: How technology has changed the world in 20 years

Best online Photoshop video tutorials: 6 video tutorial websites for Photoshop

Microsoft Word for Mac 2016 review: A subtle yet massive leap forward in usability and features2016-02-29 16:18 Marie Brewis

99 Samsung Galaxy S7 vs Nexus 6P comparison review: Which

flagship Android phone is better?By

Jim Martin | 79 mins ago

See full specs

£569 inc VAT

We were seriously impressed with the Nexus 6Pwhen it launched back in September 2015. TheHuawei-made device was considerably betterthan the Nexus 5X if you were looking for apowerful flagship phone and didn’t mind something physically bigger. Along with the Galaxy S6 ,the phones vied for the top spot in our Best phones chart: it’s only a shame we couldn’t let themshare it.

Now Samsung has updated the S6 with the similar S7. In some people’s eyes, it’s too similar,but in others’ it addresses the criticisms of the older phone and makes it nearly perfect. Butwhich is better? The Galaxy S7 or Nexus 6P?

Let’s have a look at the phones to see how they match up.

With its 5.1in Quad HD screen, the S7 should appeal to those who don’t want a big phone. (Andthat’s one reason why the S7 Edge exists – to cater to the phablet market.)

The 5.7in Nexus 6P is, if anything, more of a rival to the 5.5in S7 Edge, but when you factor inprice, it undercuts both Samsung phones by a long way. See also: Galaxy S7 vs S7 Edge

One of the cons of the Nexus 6P is the lack of expandable storage. The base 32GB model iswell priced at £449 , and even the 64GB model – in the context of this comparison – is goodvalue at a whisker under £500. The top capacity – 128GB – costs £579, £10 more than the32GB S7. See also Best Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge deals.

Of course, the S7 is blessed with the latest Snapdragon 820 processor and graphics chip, so itwill be a bit faster than the 6P which has the previous generation and 3GB rather than 4GB ofRAM. In the UK, it won’t have a Qualcomm processor but instead Samsung’s own (even faster)Exynos 8890.

We’ve run a couple of benchmarks to see how the graphics chips compare. Since the screenresolutions are the same – 2560x1440 – there’s no problem directly comparing the results.

In GFXbench Manhattan, the S7 scores 27fps, while the Nexus 6P can only manage 16fps.

Similarly, in T-Rex, the S7 is capable of 51fps, while the 6P can run it at only 40fps.

Nexus 6P

Galaxy S7

Price

£449.99

£569

Operating system

Android 6.0 Marshmallow

Android 6.0 Marshmallow, TouchWiz UI

Processor

Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 v2.1

Exynos 8890 (UK) / Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 (US)

Graphics

Adreno 430

Adreno 530

RAM

3GB

4GB LP-DDR4

Storage

32GB

32GB, microSD support

Screen

5.7in Quad-HD (518ppi) AMOLED

5.1in Quad-HD SuperAMOLED, always-on

Primary camera

12.3Mp

12Mp

Selfie camera

8Mp

5Mp

Connectivity

Dual-band 802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.2, NFC, GPS, Cat.6 LTE

Dual-band 802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.2, NFC, GPS, GLONASS, Cat.9 LTE

Extras

Fingerprint scanner, front stereo speakers

Fingerprint scanner, heart-rate scanner, IP68 waterproofing

Battery

3450mAh non-removable, USB-C

3000mAh non-removable, QC 2.0, fast wireless charging, Micro-USB

Dimensions

159x78x7.3mm

142.4x69.6x7.9mm

Weight

178g

152g

Instead of bowing to pressure in the megapixel race, both phones eschew high resolutionsensors and opt for larger pixels in a 12Mp main camera. Both claim outstanding photos atnight, but we’ll have to wait until we can test them side by side before we can say for sure whichis superior.

In terms of their capabilities and features, both shoot 4K video at 30fps, and slo-mo at 240fps (in720p). However, only the S7 supports 1080p at 60fps natively. The 6P will only allow you tochoose between 30, 120 and 240fps.

The S7 also has optical stabilisation, while the 6P doesn’t, so this is another advantage.

At the front both phones have 8Mp front cameras.

We’ve already covered size and resolution, but it’s also important to say that both phones haveAMOLED panels. This technology is different from IPS LCD which is the most common type.

Put simply, AMOLED screens have an LED for each pixel, so it’s possible to light up only certainpixels on the screen. This is great for power-saving as the date, time and notifications can beshown all the time (in the case of the S7, anyway) so you don’t have to turn on the phone to seethis information.

LG proves you don’t need AMOLED to do this, as the G5 has a clever backlight which lets thatphone show information on an always-on portion of its LCD screen.

AMOLED screens tend to have more vibrant colours than LCD, though, and both the 6P and S7have great screens.

They also both have a fingerprint scanner. The 6P’s is a circular unit on the rear while the S7’s ison the front, integrated into the home button.

The S7 will – naturally – support Samsung Pay, while the 6P will eventually support Android Pay.Neither payment system is operational in the UK yet, though.

Technically, the S7 beats the 6P with Cat 9 LTE, but in reality, you’re not going to notice thedifferent, either in terms of UK mobile operator support or in the speed of mobile data. Bothhave 802.11ac with 2x2 antennae and MU-MIMO support, so paired with the right router oraccess point will be very quick over Wi-Fi.

Neither has a removable battery, but both support quick charging. The S7 supports wirelesscharging, though, whereas the 6P does not.

One area where the 6P gains ground back is its software, plain Android 6.0 Marshmallow.Samsung overlays Android with its own TouchWiz software. If you like that, no problem. But ifyou prefer Google’s software to be unadulterated, the 6P is the one to choose. The Nexus isalso likely (there are never guarantees) to get Android N quicker than the S7 when it comes outlater this year.

Of course, Android is so customisable that you can install a different launcher on the S7 if youreally don’t like Samsung’s.

Not forgetting that this comparison is based on our hands-on review of the S7 and considerablymore in-depth testing and prolonged use of the 6P, we can only come to preliminary conclusionsabout this particular battle.

The Nexus 6P has two main advantages over its rival: price and plain Android. Those who usetheir phone’s built-in speakers a lot will also like the front-facing stereo speakers. The biggerscreen may also be an advantage if you want a larger phone.

The S7 is more expensive, but is also faster, has expandable storage, is waterproof, and hasoptical stabilisation for the camera and native support for 1080p60. Few will buy it for the heart-rate monitor.

For some people, that list will make the S7 worth the extra price, while others will see the 6P’sdrawbacks as reasonable compromises for the cheaper price.

How to buy flowers online: Cheap Mother's Day flowers - big savings plus an extra 15% off -When is?…

1995-2015: How technology has changed the world in 20 years

Best online Photoshop video tutorials: 6 video tutorial websites for Photoshop

Microsoft Word for Mac 2016 review: A subtle yet massive leap forward in usability and features2016-02-29 16:07 Jim Martin

100 Computerworld UK Daily Digest - 29 February 2016 - IBM

and the blockchain - 21 best business laptops - Growthhacking tips

The technology that underpins bitcoin could beused to support online voting, cloud computing,land registries and more

Interesting bits of tech delivered right to you

Businesses driven by 'amazing fears' of seismicdisruptions2016-02-29 16:00 Christina Mercer

Total 100 articles.

Created at 2016-03-01 12:01