Kingston Digital 256GB waterproof Class 10 UHS-I microSDXC card has lifetime warranty

Believe it or not, I am still amazed by the small physical size of microSD cards. I am from an era where 100MB Zip Disks were revolutionary, so having multiple gigabytes on a card that is smaller than a postage stamp is mind-blowing. Today, Kingston Digital announces a waterproof Class 10 UHS-I microSDXC card with a massive capacity -- 256GB. If you do not need such a large capacity, however, do not worry -- the company is also offering this line of cards in 16GB, 32GB, 64GB, and 128GB. Since some SKUs are being sold with a full-size SD adapter, it will work… [Continue Reading]

What you need to know about business intelligence

Business intelligence, like military intelligence, is sometimes jokingly described as being a contradiction in terms. But in fact, in the era of big data and the Internet of things, the potential benefits to be gained from BI are greater than ever. BI is about turning raw data into useful information for business analysis in order to aid the decision making process. The technology therefore needs to be able to handle large volumes of structured and unstructured data, turning it into reports that are easily understood and deliver insights that can provide businesses with a competitive advantage in the market and… [Continue Reading]

Thanks to Microsoft, Chrome is now 15% faster on Windows

In a bid to make its browser faster than ever, Google has started using Microsoft’s Profile Guided Optimization (PGO). Introduced in Chrome 53, this technology can help optimize high-use functions in the browser. The nightly Chrome builds track how often functions are used, and these functions are then optimized by PGO, sometimes increasing their binary size. In addition, PGO optimizes the memory location of the browser code, keeping rarely and frequently used functions away from each other. PGO was first introduced into the 64-bit build of Chrome in version 53. It has since been added to the 32-bit build in… [Continue Reading]

Mobile payments in high demand with consumers

Cash is overrated among businesses, a new study by NTT DATA suggests. Consumers don’t really use it that much, and expect the payment industry to move more towards digital wallets in the future.  This is according to a new report, based on a poll of 2,000 consumers and 300 executives. A third of consumers expect mobile money to dominate within a decade. But there is a strong discrepancy between executives and consumers -- 40 per cent of executives, in various industries, think people will pay the same for transactions in a decade than they do today. Among consumers just 27 percent expect… [Continue Reading]

How well would your city survive a zombie apocalypse?

If you’re a fan of The Walking Dead you’ve probably, at one time or another, considered how well you’d fare in a zombie apocalypse. Where you live would certainly have a major impact on your ability to survive, and with this in mind, and to celebrate Halloween, CareerBuilder's EMSI (Economic Modeling Specialists Intl.) looked into how well the major US cities would cope in the event of an actual zombie outbreak. To come to its conclusions, the study used a weighted index ranking the 53 largest US metropolitan areas -- each with at least 1 million residents -- based on… [Continue Reading]

Seagate Game Drive for Xbox SSD brings fast external storage to Microsoft's game console

While the PlayStation 4 can be cracked open for storage upgrades, the Xbox One cannot. Luckily, Microsoft went an arguably better route -- USB storage expansion. This way, users can connect a second drive, while still utilizing the internal drive too. Today, Seagate announces a new external SSD for the Xbox One. The unimaginatively named 'Game Drive for Xbox SSD' uses flash storage rather than a mechanical spinning hard drive, which should improve game load times. "The Seagate Game Drive for Xbox SSD uses flash storage to improve the gaming experience. Helping gamers get into the action quicker, the Seagate Game… [Continue Reading]

Microsoft expands Surface Book lineup with new 512GB model

Available in a multitude of configurations, the Surface Book can meet the needs of many buyers in the premium segment. But, just in case you are looking for even more flexibility, Microsoft has introduced a new model in the range, which offers a higher storage capacity at a price that does not break the bank. The Surface Book range is now comprised of seven models, four of which feature dedicated graphics. The other three -- the latest one included -- come with Intel's HD graphics, which is less powerful but not as costly an option. So, what does the new Surface Book model offer?… [Continue Reading]

Prevent malware changing your DNS with DNS Lock

Freeware developer Sordum has released DNS Lock, a free tool which prevents malware (or anything else) changing your IPv4 DNS addresses. Launch the program’s single executable and it prompts you to enter your primary and secondary DNS IP’s. DNS Lock offers you a choice of Open DNS and Google DNS Servers, too, although it only displays the raw IP addresses without identifying what they are. Once you’ve chosen or entered your details, the program applies them to your system and installs a Windows service to keep them safe. We tried changing our settings via the usual Windows route (TCP/IP properties),… [Continue Reading]

What you need to know about predictive analytics

In an era when data is seen as an increasingly valuable commodity, the tools and techniques used to analyze that data gain extra importance. Historically analysis, even using computers, has been something of a labor intensive task because the raw data needed to be verified and complex models built to process it. But due to the growth of machine learning and data mining techniques we’re now seeing an increase in predictive analysis where machines can take historical and current information and apply it to a model to predict future trends. Whilst in business terms predictive analytics is primarily about looking… [Continue Reading]

Google now alerts you to early voting for 2016 US election

As the big (or dreaded) day of November 8th draws ever closer, many states have now opened early voting. The process is pretty simple, but we've seen long lines in some locations. It's an interesting approach, given that new stories and revelations hit the news cycle on an almost daily basis. Not every state has early voting available, and it opens on various days depending on your location. So how do you find out when and where to head to the polls? This year it's as simple as heading to Google. If voting has opened in your area then a box… [Continue Reading]

AllDup 4 finds visually similar images

Freeware duplicate file finder AllDup has hit version 4.0 with some major additions and updates. The program can now detect visually similar pictures in the image formats BMP, JPG, GIF, PNG and TIF, even if they’ve been flipped, rotated, reduced in quality or colors, or marginally cropped. Enhanced audio file scanning allows the program to find duplicate FLAC and MP3 files, even if they have different tags. The program can now optionally compare files by parts of their names, so for example MyPic.jpg would now match MyPic-1.jpg and MyPic-2.jpg. There’s new support for specifying multiple file filters in a single… [Continue Reading]

Watch Leonardo DiCaprio's new climate change film, Before The Flood, here for free

With the tagline "the science is clear, the future is not", the climate change documentary Before The Flood wears its heart on its sleeve. With Martin Scorsese as executive producer, and featuring none other than Leonardo DiCaprio, the film paints a bleak picture of man's effect on the environment. Before The Flood was produced by the National Geographic Channel, and received a cinema release on October 21. But the documentary is seen as being so important, it is also being made available to stream for free to bring it to as wide an audience as possible. The film really speaks… [Continue Reading]

Automatically clear your clipboard with ClipTTL

You’re working away in one app, but realize you need data from another. So what? That’s what the clipboard is for: copy here, paste there and it’s sorted in seconds. But the story isn’t over. The information you copied will remain in the clipboard until it’s replaced, visible to others, consuming RAM (maybe a lot, if it’s an HD image), and annoyingly appearing in other documents if you accidentally hit "paste". You could try to fix this by replacing confidential clipboard items with something else. Once you’ve copied and pasted a password, for instance, copy some other text and your… [Continue Reading]

Today's ghostly Google doodle is a Harry Potter-inspired Halloween game

It's that time of year again when the pumpkins are glowing, the kids are out trick or treating, and things start to go bump in the night. To celebrate Halloween 2016, Google has launched a new game as today's doodle. You're invited to go ghostbusting. You must help your feline companion to defeat ghouls and ghost with a little spellcasting -- with a doodly twist, of course. Things will be easier if you have a touch screen device, but you can also use your mouse. As ghosts appear on screen, you need to draw the symbol (or symbols) that appear… [Continue Reading]

How to reset NVRAM on late-2016 MacBook Pro models

Things can go awry with any computer from time to time, and getting things back to normal is often just a matter of knowing the right trick. With a Macs, resetting NVRAM is a quick fix for a number of issues, and Apple has changed the way you go about doing this with the late-2016 MacBook Pro models. One of the reasons for the change is that these latest models do not feature the startup sound, so timing the required key presses is a slightly different matter now. Here's what you need to do. Previously, the trick was to press… [Continue Reading]

New MacBook Pro (2016) starts automatically when opened without the iconic startup chime

When Apple unveiled the new MacBook Pro range last week, much was made of the Touch Bar and other things that have been added. What was not noticed immediately is that the company has also ditched the famous startup chime that used to sound when powering up the laptops. More than this, Apple has eliminated the need to use the power button. Just as laptops wake from sleep when the lid is opened, the new MacBook Pro automatically powers up when the lid is lifted -- even if they are fully switched off. There are multiple benefits to these changes,… [Continue Reading]

What you need to know about service oriented architecture

Service oriented architecture is a principle that allows businesses to manage their IT and business transformation in order to give themselves a competitive edge. It offers benefits including insight into the running of the entire business, seamless integration of systems and the cloud, and linking of front and back office systems. The World Wide Web Consortium defines SOA as "A set of components which can be invoked, and whose interface descriptions can be published and discovered". CBDI defines it in more detail as "[the] policies, practices, frameworks that enable application functionality to be provided and consumed as sets of services… [Continue Reading]