If you're unfortunate enough to be in the path of a hurricane, Amazon has a plan to help

Yesterday we celebrated Memorial Day, and this year it’s followed immediately by a more infamous day. June 1 of each year marks the start of hurricane season in the Atlantic and Pacific basins. It runs through December 1, but remember, mother nature doesn’t always follow our schedules and directions -- one hurricane already formed in mid-May.  Most don’t reach land and those that do frequently amount to little, but then you also have the likes of Katrina or Sandy that can prove devastating. Maria knocked out power for months in Puerto Rico in 2017.  Thankfully Amazon has a plan to help people out, taking on the US government’s vaunted (by them)… [Continue Reading]

Kingston unleashes the FURY on PC gamers as the HyperX sale to HP completes

Earlier in the year, we shared some huge news with you -- Kingston was selling HyperX to HP for nearly $500 million. Shockingly, HyperX memory was not included in the deal, meaning HP pretty much only bought the accessory business -- keyboards, mice, and headsets -- and not RAM. Today, that acquisition is officially complete. At the time, I was unsure how the branding would work moving forward. Would Kingston continue to use the "HyperX" name for its gaming RAM? Today we learn that will absolutely not be the case. You see, it seems like the name "HyperX" entirely belongs… [Continue Reading]

Firefox 89 unveils a major -- and distinctly modern -- facelift

When Mozilla switched its popular open-source browser from a rapid-release cycle of six weeks to an even-faster release cycle of just four weeks between major releases, it became easy to blur one release of Firefox into the next, as the version number ticked up ever more quickly. But it’s safe to say that the latest release -- Firefox 89 -- deserves the label of 'landmark' release, thanks to a radical makeover. The slick new user interface is more befitting of the modern, minimalist UIs sported by Windows and macOS (as well as Android and iOS), along with rival browsers Chrome… [Continue Reading]

Fitbit announces a Minions activity and sleep tracker for kids

Fitness trackers can help keep children active and introduce ways of staying healthy, but they need to be fun to hold their interest. Fitbit today introduces the Ace 3 Special Edition: Minions for kids 6+ starring Illumination’s Minions characters. The swim-proof device includes features such as daily activity goals and hourly move reminders. The tracker comes with an interactive Minions clock face and yellow Minions-inspired accessory bands. Minions-themed activity badges are also coming "soon". Promising eight days of battery life, the device is designed to survive all sorts of child accidents, such as tumbles and spills. "Parents and kids love… [Continue Reading]

Login experiences are not delivering for consumers

New research by YouGov for identity platform Auth0 finds that many businesses are falling short of consumer expectations on login technologies -- and risk frustrating their users, losing sales, and opening themselves up to credential stuffing attacks as a result. The study shows that consumers around the world want greater choice in login technologies, and that they're willing to actively seek them out. Nearly half (49 percent) of consumers surveyed say they are more likely to sign up to an app or online service if a company offers multi-factor authentication (MFA). In addition almost half (47 percent) are more likely… [Continue Reading]

The challenge of keeping remote work secure

In a rapid and unprecedented shift, over 60 percent of Americans worked from home in 2020. But this has thrown up new challenges for businesses trying to keep their systems secure. Authentication specialist Beyond Identity has produced an infographic looking at how vulnerable systems and applications can be in the work from home era. Attacks targeting remote workers increased five fold in the first six weeks of lockdown and 20 percent of companies experienced data breaches linked to remote workers. In addition cyberattacks in general have soared, in particular phishing which was up over 600 percent. Key concerns for admins… [Continue Reading]

KB5003214 update for Windows 10 is causing taskbar problems -- but there's a simple fix

If you have installed the recent KB5003214 update for Windows 10, you may well have noticed problems with icon in the taskbar. Microsoft released a preview version of this update last week, and many of the guineapigs who opted to install it have experienced issues. KB5003214 is due for a full launch later this month on Patch Tuesday, but there are plenty of eager Windows 10 users who install preview updates as soon as they are available. One of the key aims of this update it to bring News and Interests to the taskbar, but there have been numerous reports… [Continue Reading]