Samsung To Launch First Foldable Smartphone Early Next Year






Samsung could be about to change the world of mobile phones forever - with a bendy screen which folds over.

The Korean phone giant, which already sells phones with curved screens, is said to be testing a device already, according to Samsung Mobile.

According to reports circulating on Chinese micro-blogging site Weibo, the gadget comes in two models with high-powered chips and a ‘wallet-like screen.

Samsung has previously teased the idea with various videos showing how a ‘bendable’ smartphone might work.

Its Korean rival LG has a phone with a flexible screen, which is designed to be tougher than ‘stiff-screened’ phones.

Nearly two years ago, Samsung wowed an audience in Las Vegas with a working mobile phone screen which could be rolled and unrolled like a sheet of paper.

The screen kept working as it was rolled and unrolled - and was built to be "virtually unbreakable", Samsung claimed.

Cortana public beta released for Android




Android users can now test out Microsoft's digital assistant Cortana after the company released a public beta version.
The app will differ slightly from Cortana in its native Windows environment - for example, launch phrase "Hey Cortana" is only available across Windows products for now, the company said.
US users can sign up for the program by visiting its link in the Google Play store, while UK customers will have to wait until it is rolled out across other markets. An iOS version will soon be made available.
Microsoft announced it was working on an advance version of Cortana for Android and iOS back in March, and has now integrated the assistant into its desktop offerings through the recently-released Windows 10.
Cortana was first revealed in April 2014 as Microsoft's answer to Apple's Siri and Google's Google Now voice-powered assistants. It made its UK debut in September last year with the launch of the Lumia 735 – the first smartphone to go on sale in Britain with the Windows Phone 8.1 operating system pre-installed.
The assistant has been designed to complete everyday mundane tasks, including creating reminders to notify you at specific times, make calls and search the internet.

Changing your phone plan between different carriers is a mammoth task these days. All those requests, applications, and SIM card replacements are just too much. But, in near future, this could be a thing of past, and switching your carrier will be a lot easier. This may happen as Samsung and Apple are working to make the SIM card disappear.

Apple and Samsung are working with the GSM Association, the representative body of all cellphone makers across the world, to make a standard SIM card that will remain embedded in your phone. This will make switching between the carriers easy. This embedded SIM card is being called e-SIM.


The SIM cards being used today are provided your network service provider. It’s a small plastic piece that stores your phone number, data plan info and identifies your device to your service provider. The new e-SIM will allow your phone to switch between your service providers easily. As I’ve called it “the SIM card that will disappear”, this SIM will be out of your reach.

World’s two biggest names in the smartphone industry are in “advanced talks” about the launch of these e-SIM cards, according to the Financial Times. These standards are expected to be finalized in 2016.

BlackBerry Wants to Provide 9 Numbers on Single SIM



The GSM Association tells that e-SIM card is gaining a widespread support from the carrier community. It has already got the support of AT&T, Orange, Telefonica, Vodafone, Deutsche Telekom, Etisalat and Hutchison Whampoa.

Apple has been trying to make the SIM disappear for a long time, and it looks like this is it. The new e-SIM cards sound similar to Apple SIM, which was launched by the iPad maker earlier this year. It was available for the cellular version of iPad Air 2 and worked with multiple carriers.

According to Canadian carrier Rogers, the Samsung Galaxy S6 and the S6 edge should get their Android 5.1 Lollipop update as early as next month. The carrier's official website mentions June as the estimated release date for the update, although the website also says that the dates are subject to change.

Over this past month, we've heard that Samsung is already working on updating its latest flagships to Android 5.1 Lollipop, and we've also heard that the update should come with a new Guest Mode feature, as well as the ability to snap RAW photos. This is the first time we're hearing about a potential release date for the update.

Since we can think of no reason why Rogers should get any priority in updating its versions of the Galaxy S6 and S6 edge to the latest Android version, this date should be a good estimate for a lot of other carriers across the globe as well.

While Android 5.1 Lollipop is not a major update over 5.0 Lollipop, Google seems to have solved many of the bugs that got introduced with the original version of Lollipop.

Guest Mode is a feature that stock Android 5.0 has had since day one, but Samsung did not include it in the Lollipop versions that the S6 and the S6 edge currently use. The ability to capture RAW photos is also baked in the stock version of 5.0 Lollipop. Some were disappointed that the Galaxy S6 series lacked this feature, especially since the MWC 2015 demo units came this must-have feature for mobile photography enthuziasts.

Many customers will appreciate it if Samsung also optimizes the battery life of its two flagships, although this could well turn out to be just wishful thinking.

Windows 10 may very well be Microsoft's last operating system, if recent reports are true. A Microsoft employee made the surprising revelation during a recent conference hosted by Microsoft.

Jerry Nixon revealed during Microsoft's Ignite Conference in Chicago that the company is no longer planning to develop new versions of the operating system anytime in the future.


"Right now we're releasing Windows 10 and because Windows 10 is the last version of Windows, we're all still working on Windows 10," he said.

The latest version of the operating system is slated for release in summer and as Nixon said, the company is preparing for this release. Earlier reports about the upcoming OS version also revealed how Windows is shifting from providing service rather than coming up with new versions every so often.

According to Nixon, the new philosophy behind Windows 10 is "Windows as a service" means that it will be pushing out updates regularly for Windows 10, improving on its services rather than introducing new versions of the OS.

Nixon's statements were later validated through a statement from a Microsoft spokesperson: "Recent comments at Ignite about Windows 10 are reflective of the way Windows will be delivered as a service bringing new innovations and updates in an ongoing manner, with continuous value for our consumer and business customers."

The spokesperson also emphasized how Windows 10 and further innovations will benefit users across multiple devices: "We aren't speaking to future branding at this time, but customers can be confident Windows 10 will remain up-to-date and power a variety of devices from PCs to phones to Surface Hub to HoloLens and Xbox. We look forward to a long future of Windows innovations."

In addition, Microsoft will be also be implementing a 24/7 update sequence, allowing users to choose whether they will get updates via slow or fast rollouts, meaning they can get updates in bundles or as soon as the update is released. Currently, the company is reportedly testing Windows 10 preview builds with a select group of users

Windows Insiders get free upgrade path to Windows 10




Microsoft will give those who tested the next version of Windows through the Windows Insider program a free upgrade path to Windows 10 when the OS is released to manufacturing, meaning you will be able to upgrade to the final RTM version without the need of a clean install.
When this news was first revealed by Microsoft's Gabriel Aul through Twitter yesterday, there was a bit of confusion as to how the upgrade would work, with some people speculating that the free upgrade meant a free Windows 10 license, however that is not the case.
Current Windows 7 and Windows 8/8.1 license holders will be able to upgrade to Windows 10 free of charge for the first year, meaning you do get a free upgrade. Those already using Windows 10 previews, will be able to upgrade to the final release code, but that won't make it a valid license outright.
Microsoft has yet to reveal how much Windows 10 will cost as standalone software. At the time of Windows 8's launch, Microsoft offered a short-term deal that allowed those upgrading from as far back as Windows XP to get Windows 8 for just $39. Of course, free is even better.
This is not the first time users get mixed signals from Redmond. Earlier this year Microsoft stated that pirates upgrading to Windows 10 will be able to do so without an existing valid license, but the license will remain invalid after the upgrade is complete. What seems clear is that Microsoft doesn't plan on giving away free licenses to anyone, but users with valid Windows 7 and Windows 8 copies will get a free upgrade for a limited time.
Windows 10 will launch this summer, potentially around the end of July, with a large array of new features. Those interested in testing out the OS ahead of release can still join Microsoft's Insider Program and download the latest preview build right now.

Google Says Its Self-Driving Cars Drive Better Than You




Google has been testing self-driving cars for years. Six years in fact, with a fleet of 20+ self-driving cars, which have self-driven almost a million miles over that period — and are now averaging around 10,000 self-driven miles per week.

So how many accidents have Google’s autonomous rides got into over that period? Eleven “minor accidents”, according to Google’s Chris Urmson, writing in a blog post on Medium yesterday. However Urmson lays the blame for all 11 fender-benders at the feet of the other human drivers — rather than the self-driving machines.

Over the 6 years since we started the project, we’ve been involved in 11 minor accidents (light damage, no injuries) during those 1.7 million miles of autonomous and manual driving with our safety drivers behind the wheel, and not once was the self-driving car the cause of the accident.

Going into a little more detail, Urmson says Google’s driverless cars have been hit from behind seven times — “mainly at traffic lights but also on the freeway”. They’ve also been “side-swiped a couple of times and hit by a car rolling through a stop sign”. While the majority of the accidents apparently occurred on city streets, rather than freeways — with Google noting its vehicles were hit eight times “in many fewer miles of city driving”.

A lot of the discussion around the challenges posed by driverless cars has focused on concerns about safety — such as whether on-board computers would require programing to encourage taking evasion action that is designed to kill the least number of people, yet which might nonetheless result in a machine making deliberate choices to crash into a car with fewer occupants (and thus actively choosing to kill one set of humans to save another).

So Google flagging up the dangers of human drivers offers a counterweight to that — albeit, it’s in the company’s long-term interests to move humans from behind the wheel. After all, if your eyes are on the road they can’t (safely) be on an advert, which is of course how Mountain View fuels its business. So expect Google to keep emphasizing the fallibility of human drivers as it works to pave the way for a machine-driven future.

Urman even goes on to cite statistics about the number of U.S. drivers checking their mobile while driving — contrasting those fatally distracted humans with the lidless vigilance of Google’s four-wheeled machines…

Lots of people aren’t paying attention to the road. In any given daylight moment in America, there are 660,000 people behind the wheel who are checking their devices instead of watching the road. Our safety drivers routinely see people weaving in and out of their lanes; we’ve spotted people reading books, and even one playing a trumpet. A self-driving car has people beat on this dimension of road safety. With 360 degree visibility and 100% attention out in all directions at all times; our newest sensors can keep track of other vehicles, cyclists, and pedestrians out to a distance of nearly two football fields.

He also notes that Google is amassing a wealth of driving data which he suggests could be used to identify dangerous situations before an accident happens — such as identifying “patterns of driver behavior (lane-drifting, red-light running) that are leading indicators of significant collisions”.

The next step, presumably, would be for Google’s driverless algorithms to take pre-emptive evasive action to steer clear of future collisions, based on big data mining of these warning signs of impending collisions.

Samsung's Galaxy Tab S series contained some of the more attractive Android tablets released to date, so it's good to see Samsung is working on a sequel, at least according to the latest rounds of rumors.
Press images of one tablet expected to be part of the Galaxy Tab S2 series have leaked thanks to OnLeaks, revealing a slim, attractive device with metal around the edges. This use of metal is reminiscent of Samsung's latest phones such as the Galaxy A5 and Galaxy S6, as well as the recently-released Galaxy Tab A line.
According to a variety of leaks, the Galaxy Tab S2 will come in 8-inch and 9.7-inch variants. Like with most of Samsung's products, the Galaxy Tab S2 will feature a Super AMOLED display, although interestingly the company will move away from a screen with a 16:9 aspect ratio, opting for a 4:3 2048 x 1536 display in both models, just like the iPad Air 2 and Nexus 9.
Processor-wise we can expect to see a 64-bit Exynos SoC, most likely Samsung's Exynos 7420 we saw in the Galaxy S6, alongside 3 GB of RAM, 32 GB of storage and a microSD card slot. The Galaxy Tab S2 is rumored to also include an 8-megapixel camera on the back, a 2.1-megapixel camera on the front, and LTE connectivity in some models.
Samsung is expected to launch the Galaxy Tab S2 sometime in June with Android 5.0 and TouchWiz on board. As this is Samsung's premium tablet offering, it should be priced accordingly.

Microsoft is moving to a different kind of software model with Windows 10. A developer evangelist noted that Windows 10 would be the “last version of Windows” during the company’s Ignite conference this week, and a follow-up confirmation from an official Microsoft spokesperson revealed (via the Telegraph) that, indeed, updates to Windows after that release would follow an incremental path that would lead to ongoing improvements, instead of splashy, more occasional numbered launches.

Arguably, it’s a change that has been progressively happening ever since the easy and affordable availability of Internet connectivity came to the personal computer. Software companies have been releasing continuous updates for their apps, operating systems and firmware via Internet connection gradually over time since it became practical to do so. But Microsoft’s decision to fully embrace this marks a big change in the way it conceives, markets and sells its desktop OS.

Other companies have already fully embraced this turn in the means and nature of software distribution; Adobe, for instance, is all-on on its Creative Cloud model, which sees subscribers pony up monthly fees for access to desktop programs like Photoshop and Illustrator in exchange for always having the most current version and features. Adobe makes this more attractive with a range of supporting services, including its Creative Cloud syncing file storage.

Microsoft has, especially under new CEO Satya Nadella, made the move to become much more of a services company. Putting Windows into that bundle of services would be a strong move toward upping the overall value proposition of the whole. And moving to a more gradually iterative model would probably have benefits in terms of engineering resource allocation and keeping pace with the increasingly rapid adoption curves of new tech.

It’ll be interesting to see how the sales model shifts with this change: Microsoft has announced that Windows 10 will be a free upgrade for eligible devices for the first year after 10’s official launch, but presumably if it’s capping that it’ll still be looking to drive revenue from sales of the OS. Perhaps it could become part of a larger services bundle that expands on what Office 365 currently provides.

Google has introduced an interesting new feature to the Google Play Store after it began allowing users to pre-register for upcoming Android apps.

Terminator Genisys: Revolution from Glu Mobile — the company that recently took investment from China’s Tencent — is the first title to take advantage of the feature, as the folks at Android Police noticed. Interested users simply tap the pre-register icon (which is where ‘download’ would usually be) to show their interest.

Pre-registration is free for Android customers, and there’s no obligation to download or buy the app once it is live. The process sets up an alert that prompts a user once the app is available. It is not a lock-in, since users can cancel their interest if they have a change of heart.

nexus2cee_2015-05-08_17h30_12_thumb

Pre-registration is n’t for your average developer, but it could be useful for games that are timed for release alongside films — i.e. Terminator — or sequels or big budget productions that want to drive up interest and hype pre-launch.

This is another example of differentiation between Apple’s App Store and Google Play. Google has long allowed a number of unique features, including allowing developers to respond to reviews. That said, the company is known to be more lax when it comes to vetting new apps and updates — that’s thought to be one reason why the risk of malware is higher for Android customers.

Ex-Skypers Launch Virtual Whiteboard Deekit

Although seriously long in the tooth and being disrupted by a plethora of startups, for many years Skype has existed as an almost ubiquitous app in any remote team’s toolkit.

So it seems apt that a new startup founded by a team of ex-Skype employees is set to tackle another aspect of online collaboration. Deekit, which exits private beta today, is a virtual and collaborative whiteboard to help remote teams work smarter.

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The Tallinn, Estonia-based startup is headed up by founder and CEO, Kaili Kleemeier, who was previously a Head of Operations at Skype. She and three colleagues quit the Internet calling giant in 2012 and spent a year researching ideas in the remote team space. They ended up focusing on creating a new virtual whiteboard, born out of Kleemeier’s experience collaborating with technical teams remotely, specifically helping Skype deal with incident management.

“Working with remote teams has been a challenge in many ways – cultural differences, language differences, all the time people talk about the same things in different ways, sharing information across all locations,” she recalls.

“But at the time of an incident, you need to put everything on steroids – explain things faster, solve things faster, be extremely transparent and so on. This experience literally lead me and the team to research in depth how can you collaborate really effectively.”

Part of the solution is to bring back the humble whiteboard, but one that is accessible via any HTML5 web browser, with dedicated mobile and tablet apps to follow. “Deek” is a Romani word for looking. As in “deek and you shall see”. The idea being that showing is often quicker than telling.

“Simple conversations are not effective when it comes to complex problem solving, sharing knowledge or brainstorming around creative ideas,” says Kleemeier. “For example, when developers are discussing an architecture change, a whiteboard is the most natural thing to jump to. With simple boxes and arrows you make a point within just a couple of minutes. It also applies in design, sales, working with team processes, product planning and much more.”

The Deekit app offers all of the whiteboard features you’d expect, such as drawing tools and the ability to add text. In addition, you can pin notes on the side, and the whole app is collaborative: anybody can contribute no matter where they are and in realtime. Boards can also be shared and archived for future reference.

Another feature Kleemeier and her team have focused on is offering templates. These aren’t just simple design templates but also provide extensive instructions, such as how to run a business plan whiteboard session, or brainstorming a product roadmap.

But, of course, virtual whiteboards aren’t new by any measure. Competitors in the space include Realtimeboard, Stormboard and Murally. Or even enterprise collaboration apps like Confluence and Sharepoint.

“Most enterprise software is overwhelming,” argues Kleemeier when asked about competitors. “Piles of tools and buttons that make you focus on choosing the tools and how to use them. When designing Deekit, we decided to take that all away. Deekit is designed to be simple and clean. To know what you want, before you want it. To provide the right tools when needed and keep them out of the way when not. So that you can focus on the task at hand — discussing your idea.”

Windows 10 release date, specs and pricing: Everything you need to know

WITTER

Windows Update for Business lets you decide which machines move to 10, and when

• Enterprise users can manage company-wide rollouts for Windows 10 updates.
• New Windows 10 finally gets a proper name: Microsoft Edge.
• The operating system will be a free upgrade for Windows 7 and Windows 8/8.1 users during the first year.
• If you do not upgrade in the first year, you will be charged. There has been some confusion around pricing - but Microsoft is expected to charge a one-off license fee and NOT move to a subscription model.
• Windows 10 will launch in late-2015, likely by the end of July. The Technical Preview will end on 15 April 2015.
• Microsoft also debuted the 84in Microsoft Surface Hub and Windows Holographic. The latter will allow users to create 3D models via a custom-built HoloLens.
• Android and iOS apps will run on the new OS.

Jump to:

• Windows 10 latest news
• Windows 10 release date
• Windows 10 price
• Windows 10 specs/features

Windows 10 latest news

Windows 10 will launch globally in 190 countries this summer, and details about what to expect from the next-gen OS are slowly being revealed - officially and via leaks. Here's our roundup of the latest Windows 10 news.

05/05/15: Microsoft announces Windows Update for Business. The update delivery system allows IT managers to control when and how specific systems throughout the company recieve Windows 10's rolling incremental upgrades (see below).

01/05/15: A new feature will enable developers to port Android and iOS apps to Windows 10 with just a few changes to the app's codebase, the firm announced. Microsoft's new browser (formerly Project Spartan) has a new name; Microsoft Edge (see below).

Windows 10 release date

Windows 10 Technical Preview ends on 15 April 2015 and the general release is tipped for later this year. The release date is almost guaranteed to be July 2015 if a slip of the tongue by AMD's CEO during an earnings call is anything to go by, according to reports. 

This piece by IT Pro's sister publication PC Pro, pins the launch date of Windows 10 to Thursday 23 July, and has some pretty good reasons why!

Windows 10 Price

The rumours that Windows 10 will be free for existing Windows 7/8.1 users has been confirmed, with the company revealing that Windows 10 will be free for Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 users for the first year. However, executives declined to comment on the pricing structure after this time frame.

Microsoft has also announced that the free Windows 10 upgrade will also be available to users of pirated software, with Myerson telling Reuters: "We are upgrading all qualified PCs, genuine and non-genuine, to Windows 10."

"Anyone with a qualified device can upgrade to Windows 10, including those with pirated copies of Windows," a Microsoft spokesperson said to The Verge. "We believe customers over time will realise the value of properly licensing Windows and we will make it easy for them to move to legitimate copies."

Windows 10: Faster builds

News that Microsoft is planning to accelerate its release schedule for Windows 10 preview builds has appeared following the event. An announcement in the Windows Insider Hub app (available only for existing Windows 10 users, via ZDNet) said: 

"We've heard your feedback asking for more frequent builds - and as Gabe mentioned in his recent blog post, we've probably been too conservative about pushing builds to the Fast ring for Windows Insiders. So we're preparing to speed up the build releases for those who want to live life in the Fast lane.

"The good news is that Insiders who choose Fast will be getting fresher code, with all of the features and fixes, more often. The potential downside is that as we go faster, the builds will likely include more bugs with fewer workarounds. If this doesn't sound like something you want to deal with, now is your time to switch to Slow."

Windows 10: Latest builds

Microsoft has made available the latest build of Windows 10. Build 10061 comes a week earlier than scheduled and is available to users on the Fast Ring of releases. It comes with a raft of new features and fixes for bugs. 

Start menu, taskbar and Action Centre are now more customisable allowing users to resize the Start Menu as well as change the colour of it, the task bar and Action Centre. 

There are updates to the Mail and Calendar apps with support for Office 365, Exchange, Outlook.com, Gmail and other account types.

There are improvements to Continuum, Task View and Virtual Desktops. More details of this and more can be found on the Microsoft Windows blog.

Some earlier builds will now no longer be supported by Microsoft and will have to be updated. According to this forum posting from a Microsoft engineer, builds 9841, 9860 and 9879 will all stop booting from 30 April.

"Approximately two weeks before a build’s license expires, you will start getting warnings that this build will expire and that you should update to the most recent build," the engineer said.

Windows 10 specs/features

Microsoft is doing everything it can to ensure that Windows 10 retains its core market of enterprise users.

As part of this, the company announced Microsoft Update for Business at its Ignite conference in early May. One of the major shake-ups that Windows 10 is introducing to the standard Windows formula is the system of gradual, incremental updates brought on by the shift to Platform-as-a-Service.

However, a constant series of rolling upgrades can be a huge headache for IT departments. In order to combat this, Microsoft Update for Business is a solution that allows IT managers to fine-tune which devices and systems in a company receive Windows updates at which time.

It allows the specification of maintenance windows, which can be used to designate when and when not to apply updates. This ensures that systems won’t be unavailable at critical times, and that machines can be unobtrusively kept up to date.

Microsoft has addressed potential compatibility queries, stating that the new tools will fully integrate with existing management software like System Center and Enterprise Mobility Suite.

Microsoft’s forthcoming OS will let users apply software updates and app downloads by utilising a network of other Windows 10 users, essentially peer-to-peer updates.

Local networks of PCs or a mix of local machines and internet-accessed PCs will be able to supply users with updates to Windows 10, reports The Verge.

There will also be the usual model of having Windows Update servers spit out upgrades straight to your device. However, the P2P model could raise security issues, with users potentially downloading updates from PCs whose safety hasn’t been verified by Microsoft.

The new operating system would feature the return of the traditional start button, which disappeared with Windows 8 to much dismay from users. The new start menu houses apps and an enhanced search function as well as the layout we all remember. Continuum will make the Windows 10 interface adapt to its device and situation, acting accordingly whether it’s on a tablet, a hybrid or a desktop PC.

Multiple desktops will also be a feature of the operating system, and Microsoft set out a list of new keyboard shortcuts that would help users manage this.

A unified app store is something that has been rumoured for a while, and it will arrive with Windows 10. Developers will now be able to create one app that runs across all Windows devices.

Security updates will now be easier to manage, with consumers alerted to monthly updates and businesses able to opt-in for a faster cycle.

Multitasking is a big feature of Windows 10 that Microsoft has been keen to push, with a quadrant layout that allows users to snap up to four apps together and a smart suggestions feature for any dead screen space.

MDM will be built into the new operating system, allowing admins to manage devices both through traditional methods and via the cloud.

According to WinBeta, third-party developers will be able to create unique lock screens with Windows 10, and apps such as Data Sense and Battery Saver will come over from Windows Phone.

The Notification Center is also one of the 7,000 reported improvements, along with new security features such as multi-factor authentification, and a built-in way of separating business and personal data for encryption.

New leaked screenshots from an internal build of Windows 10, Build 9879, from ithome (via WinBeta), shows off more options added to the UI such as the choice to hide the ‘Search and Task View’ option. The build is a recent one, according to the site.

File Explorer has also been tweaked, with users now able to pin things to the Home area, and the charms bar button in modern apps shows in the “hamburger-style” rather than as three dots as before.

The site also reports that the windows animations have been made smoother for Windows 10, and that the Notification Center button has been moved from the taskbar to the tray beside the clock.

Windows-as-a-Service will allow developers to work across all Windows devices, as well as improving security.

In terms of appearance, the task bar appears streamlined on Windows 10, and the Start Menu can be made full screen with a touch. Settings has also reverted back to look like the traditional Control Panel of old. The Charms Bar also has a new look, with users able to swipe from the right to find a notifications panel. Swiping down will close all apps - not just Metro.

When the keyboard is removed from a hybrid device, the user will be asked whether they want to enter tablet mode, after which apps switch to full screen.

Microsoft's "personal assistant" Cortana is coming to Windows PCs and will be accessible via a search panel in the task bar. As demonstrated at the launch event, the app has the ability to learn about the user. You then have the ability to edit this information with Cortana Notebook.

The operating system will come with a brand new biometric authentication system - Windows Hello - that could replace passwords.

Microsoft has shed further light on how it plans to secure Windows 10 for users, by including support for Fast Identity Online (FIDO) in the operating system. This is part of an industry-wide push to increase the security of computer systems by moving away from traditional passwords for user authentication purposes.  

As such, Windows 10 Technical Preview users can take advantage of password-less two-factor authentication technology to access Windows devices and cloud-based services supported by Azure Active Directory.

Can Macs get viruses and malware? We ask an expert

The idea that you don’t have to worry about viruses or malware if you have a Mac is still surprisingly popular. Many people believe that Macs can’t get viruses, and Apple does little to dispel that notion, but is it really true? Can Macs get viruses?

“The answer is definitely, yes,” says Bogdan Botezatu, Bitdefender’s Senior E-Threat Analyst, “There have been incidents, and there will be more.”

A few years ago, Flashback malware exploited a security flaw in Java. It managed to infect 600,000 Macs, which was roughly 1 percent of the user base. There is a page about it on Apple’s website.

Updated by Jeffrey Van Camp on 5-04-2015: For clarification, we use the words ‘malware’ and ‘virus’ mostly interchangeably in this article because, to most people, these are one and the same. However, technically speaking, malware is the blanket term for all malicious software that could attack or infect a computer. Wikipedia’s page on malware is a good resource if you want to know all the many varied types.

There have been other problems since then. The KitM.A backdoor application on OS X was able to take screenshots of user’s desktops. More recently, the Rootpipe exploit has been proving difficult to fix.

“Mac OS X software has more high-risk vulnerabilities than all versions of Windows put together,” explains Bogdan, “Apple markets these products as virus-free. They say you don’t need an antivirus, because they know people hate antivirus software. These utilities often slow down your computer, so they don’t want to promote them.”

Windows Media Center is finally killed off by Microsoft

Sorry, Media Center fans: The imminent rollout of Windows 10 is going to kill the software suite once and for all. The writing has been on the wall for several years but a Microsoft executive has confirmed that you won’t be able to get Media Center inside Windows 10 — and it isn’t coming back.
ZDNet reports from a private briefing at the Build conference where it was revealed that Media Center would be taken off life support. The add-on for Windows hasn’t received a major update since 2009, although a straight port was provided for Windows 8 users who wanted to make use of its functionality.