If you sometimes have too many windows open and you need to clear things up and / or get back to the desktop view in Windows 10 as quickly as possible, here are a couple of tips that can help. Windows 10 has a ‘shake your screen’ feature that enables you to quickly clear all the open windows so you can focus on one. Here’s how it works: Grab the window you want to focus on from the top title bar. Hold it and shake it. All other open Windows will then automatically minimise. Shake it again to bring everything [...]

Researchers in the US have presented a paper based on their research that identified a real-time, activity recognition system capable of interpreting collected sounds that could well be used by home smart speakers. Identify Other Sounds, and Issue Responses Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University in the US claim to have discovered a way that the ubiquity of microphones in modern computing devices, and software that could use a device's always-on built-in microphones could be used to identify all sounds in room, thereby enabling context-related responses from smart devices. For example, if a smart device such as an Amazon Echo were [...]

After the US and Brazil, the UK has become the next country to be subject to Facebook’s new rules that require those who wish to place a political advert on the social media platform to verify their identity and say who is funding the advert. Verification The new rule in the UK means that anyone who wishes a place an advert relating to a live political issue or promoting a UK political candidate, referencing political figures, political parties, elections, legislation before Parliament and past referenda that are the subject of national debate, will need to prove their identity, and prove [...]

The makers of all popular browsers - IE, Edge, Safari, Firefox, and Chrome included - have announced plans to disable Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol versions 1.0 and 1.1 by default. TLS Transport Layer Security (TLS) 1.0 and 1.1 are the early versions of encryption used to secure connections to HTTPS websites. Their job is to provide confidentiality and integrity of data in transit between clients and servers. This week, and not unexpectedly, all the big browser manufacturers released co-ordinated announcements that TLS 1.0, which will be 20 years old next January, and TLS 1.1 will no longer be supported [...]

As a widening attack surface and evolving threats mean that organisations continue to breached despite a large security spend, many businesses are now turning to the 'zero-trust' security model. What Is The Zero-Trust Security Model? The Zero Trust security model, introduced by analyst firm Forrester Research, is an alternative architecture for IT security that doesn’t work on the traditional assumption that the perimeter is the main focus and that the inside of an organization’s network can be trusted. Zero-trust assumes that untrusted actors exist both inside and outside a company network, and that every user access request has to be [...]

Microsoft’s lesser-known co-founder, Paul Allen, who left the company in 1982, has died aged 65 from complications of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (lymphatic cancer), with news of his death bringing praise for his generosity as a philanthropist. School Friends To Billionaires School friends Bill Gates and Paul Allen set up Microsoft in April 1975 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. In fact, it was Allen who was credited as coming up with the name Microsoft after the pair rejected the name of “Allen & Gates” because it sounded like a law firm or consulting company. Allen chose ‘Microsoft’ because it was an amalgamation of [...]

On Windows 10, starting with version 1809 (October 2018 Update), the 'Snip & Sketch' app has been re-purposed to become the new default for screenshots. You can, however, choose to set the Print Screen key on your keyboard to open the screen snipping tools. Here's how: -- Open Settings. -- Click on Ease of Access. -- Click on Keyboard. Under “Print Screen shortcut,” turn on the "Use the PrtScn button to open screen snipping" toggle switch.

It may be no surprise to hear that California, home of Silicon Valley, has become the first state to pass laws to make AI bots 'introduce themselves' (i.e. identify themselves as bots), and to ban weak default passwords. Other states and countries (including the UK) may follow. Bot Law With more organisations turning to bots to help them create scalable, 24-hour customer services, together with the interests of transparency at a time when AI is moving forward at a frightening pace, California has just passed a law to make bots identify themselves as such on first contact. Also, in the [...]

It has been reported that Facebook has been testing how voice commands could be used in its Messenger platform to help users to send messages, initiate voice calls and set reminders. Internally Testing Facebook is reported to have confirmed to tech news platform ‘TechCrunch’ that it is internally testing a prototype of voice control (which was discovered by a TechCrunch tipster) in the M assistant of Messenger. Facebook’s new speech recognition feature goes by the name of ‘Aloha’. It is believed that Aloha will be used for Facebook and Messenger apps, as well as external hardware. The Aloha voice assistant [...]

The October rollout of the update to Windows 10 as part of the SaaS model has been suspended due to reports that some customers have experienced mass file deletions. Eating Files It has been reported that the rollout of version 1809 October 2018 update for Windows 10 has been temporarily halted after users reported that files had been deleted and over-written. The update rollout (which is due to be happening in waves over the course of this month) was stopped after users took to Microsoft’s support site and social media to complain, express their anger, and warn other users of [...]