Computing

The Internet has connected thousands if not millions of computers to make the world a virtually smaller place but that has also enabled a new form of criminal activity. Botnets do more than just infect computers, they also use those infected computers to further spread their illegal activities. Now Microsoft is proudly announcing how it took part in an operation that has disrupted one of the most prolific botnets in the world, at least for the next 25 months.

Continue Reading

Given that there are thousands if not hundreds of thousands of computers running Windows, you'd think that Microsoft would exercise extreme caution when rolling out updates. Given how it has landed with egg on its face so many times already, you'd presume it has already learned its lesson hard. That doesn't seem to be the case, however, if the latest update it released barely two weeks ago is any indicator as it brings the now "normal" story of fixing one or two bugs while introducing a handful of new ones as well.

Continue Reading

Few people might find a small laptop that can barely sit on your lap to be practically useful but there will probably be more who'd find the ability to play their PC games anywhere a dream come true. That's the promise of game streaming services like Google Stadia and NVIDIA GeForce NOW but there are many advantages to having the game installed locally on your computer. That's where GPD's upcoming WIN Max is going to come in but its official specs make you feel that there will be a catch or two.

Continue Reading

Whatever changes Microsoft may have for the future of the venerable Windows Start Menu, it might not be as drastic as some expect or even hope. On the one hand, that's a good thing since it will still be a mostly familiar experience. On the other hand, it may also mean that Microsoft isn't yet ready to throw out something that may already be generally if not completely disliked and abandoned, like the interactive icons, a.k.a. Live Tiles. Even if Microsoft itself is likely to de-emphasize its use.

Continue Reading

Today, Google announced a pair of useful features that are on the way to Chrome OS. The first is a new Ambient EQ feature that does just what the name suggests: it automatically adjusts the your display based on the ambient lighting around you. So, if you've ever opened up your Chromebook in a dark room only to be blinded by how bright the screen was, this could be the remedy for that.

Continue Reading

The Raspberry Pi is one of those small yet brilliant ideas that changed the world. Thanks to its low footprint, its small size, and especially its affordable price, the RPi gave birth not just to a new market but also to a new maker culture. Times have changed, however, and so have the price of components, which is why the RPi Foundation is making a welcome but somewhat odd price cut in time for its eighth birthday.

Continue Reading

For many, the browsers wars have more or less ended with just two or three key players in the market. That's not stopping others from trying to carve out their niche, often pointing out glaring flaws or lapses in the major web browsers. Brave, whose pedigree includes Brendan Eich of Javascript and Mozilla fame, is one such browser and it has partnered with the Internet Archive to bring dead web pages back to life.

Continue Reading

When Microsoft launched Windows 8, desktop users were taken aback by the strange new Start Screen (it wasn't even just a menu back then). Not only were their programs presented in a grid with large colored boxes, some of those boxes would regularly flip to show some information gathered from the app or from an online source. These Live Tiles may have been a hit on the Windows Phone but they have been maligned ever since they appeared on the desktop. Microsoft may finally be dropping those tiles but the replacement might not please Windows desktop users either.

Continue Reading

Thanks to its ubiquity via Google's other services, Gmail accounts have become prime targets for malicious or even illegal activities. It isn't just spam or phishing scams either, as emails can also include files that, when downloaded and opened, could compromise users' devices and files. That's why Google is ramping up its efforts to block these attachments from even reaching your Gmail inbox in the first place and it's doing it with a little help from Google's favorite machine learning special sauce.

Continue Reading

5G is big in mobile but that's not the only place it'll be in, naturally. Desktop and laptop computers are also fair game but only if they have the hardware to slurp from that high-speed network. Most will use external peripherals but Qualcomm is, of course, pushing a new breed of Always On, Always Connected PCs that this year will gain the ability to tap into 5G networks. And to reassure future buyers that they will be getting their money's worth, the chipmaker is listing which network operators will be supporting Snapdragon-powered 5G PCs when they launch this year.

Continue Reading

Lenovo has revealed a revamp of some of its most popular laptops, with the ThinkPad T, X, and L Series adding 10th Gen Intel Core vPro processors and WiFi 6 support to road-warrior-ready chassis. In addition there are features like Dolby Audio and Dolby Vision, together with Wake on Voice and optional embedded 4G LTE WWAN.

Continue Reading

Hacked websites, databases, and companies are nothing new these days but some make headlines either because of their massive reach, egregious negligence, or publicized drama. The incident surrounding almost all of skin-maker Slickwraps's customer data has all those elements, at least depending on which side you give credence to. The company has owned up to being hacked but only for a relatively low number of customer details and only in the past three days while the security researcher who disclosed the matter claims otherwise. Unfortunately, both sides may be a bit to blame for exacerbating the already unfortunate incident.

Continue Reading