Archive for October 2020

The fact that websites continue to be hacked and passwords are frequently stolen (and that a computer recently set a record by guessing 100 billion passwords per second) calls in to question how passwords can still be used safely and what lies ahead for them. This article looks at password security now and the progress…

Huawei Technologies Co Ltd.’s 9.9 per cent revenue increase in its figures for the first three quarters of 2020 shows a significant slowing in growth compared to the 24.4 per cent increase for the corresponding period of 2019. Impact Financial and tech commentators are pointing to US-led sanctions against the Chinese telecoms equipment and smartphone…

It has been reported that US-based payments giant PayPal is ready to allow its users to buy, sell, and hold Bitcoin BTC and other cryptocurrencies. Millions of Merchants The decision by PayPal will also mean that 26 million merchants who use the PayPal platform will, eventually, be able to accept cryptocurrencies as a funding source. App It…

A recent (Which?) survey of 1,016 electric vehicle (EV) owners has revealed that worries about battery degradation should not be an issue for potential EV buyers. The Survey The survey by consumer champion Which? was conducted from December 2019 to February 2020 and recorded the views of 47,013 people of which 1,016 were electric car…

If you like to save time while you are working with Windows 10, here is a tip to help you quickly and easily open up windows from your taskbar using ‘Windows Switch’: – Hold down the Windows key + 1 and this opens the first item that’s displayed in the taskbar. – Hold down the…

Microsoft has announced that in tests, its new, AI-based, automatic image captioning technology is better than humans at describing photos and images. Part of Azure AI The new automatic image captioning model is available via Microsoft’s Azure Cognitive Services Computer Vision offering, which is part of Azure AI. Azure Cognitive Services provides developers with AI services…

Google has introduced a new feature to its search that enables it to identify a song that a user hums or whistles. What’s This Song? Serving the same basic purpose a the Shazam app, for example, users can now ask the Google app, Google Search widget (by tapping the mic icon) or Google Assistant the…

Recording your screen can be useful for training, marketing and communications and there are many different free and paid-for services available for recording desktop activity. This article takes a brief look at several different examples. Recording Your Screen At a time where we all make and share videos using phones and via social media channels…

With domestic abuse on the rise, particularly since the pandemic lockdowns, we look at some of the chilling ways that smart devices and other technology are being used as a tool by abusers. Rise In Reports A BBC Panorama and Women’s Aid joint investigation obtained UK police figures showing that there was one domestic abuse…