Tech news

Abbott will deliver 50,000 COVID-19 tests per day to healthcare workers, starting Wednesday, using its modified ID NOW testing process. Bringing rapid coronavirus testing capacity to the medical front lines is crucial in the battle to flatten the rising death and infection curve worldwide. The FDA issued emergency authorization for the point-of-care test, clearing the way for widespread use of the system, which provides positive results in just 5 minutes and negative results in 13 minutes. from TechNewsWorld https://ift.tt/2w2WsHj

Being stuck at home gives us all way too much time to think, and many of us are burning through online content very rapidly. One of the things that's become painfully apparent is that TV shows that used to have live audiences -- like The Daily Show and Last Week Tonight -- have become almost unwatchable. In the context of the COVID-19 virus and our sudden need to view events remotely, coming up with ways to make audiences feel engaged has never been more critical. With today's technology, why not create virtual audiences? from TechNewsWorld https://ift.tt/2UsiDju

The worldwide 3D printing community is stepping up to alleviate the shortage of medical equipment needed to battle the coronavirus pandemic. Participants include entrepreneurs and hackers, companies in the 3D printing industry, automobile makers, aircraft manufacturers, universities, and even a shipbuilder. Some are offering free 3D printer files for download and use. Others are designing equipment. Still others are offering to produce medical equipment for the cost of the materials. from TechNewsWorld https://ift.tt/2UiG3b0

AryaLinux is something different, and when it comes to Linux operating systems, different can be very intriguing. Arya is both a distribution and a platform. That means you can use it as is or turn it into a branded computing system to meet your own specialized needs. Not all potential users want or need to turn Arya into their own Linux build. However, if you like tinkering or actually can benefit from creating your own computing platform, you can. The end result is a fine-tuned computing platform. from TechNewsWorld https://ift.tt/2Unb51z

Instagram has announced a slew of new capabilities to combat misinformation about the coronavirus pandemic, along with a co-watching feature that helps users feel less isolated while sheltering at home. Efforts to clamp down on misinformation include removing COVID-19 accounts from recommendations unless they are posted by a credible health organization; downranking content that third-party checkers have flagged as false; and removing false claims or conspiracy theories that could cause harm. from TechNewsWorld https://ift.tt/3akPI6u

Apple users wondering if they've caught COVID-19 now can ask digital assistant Siri for advice. The company has rolled out a self-screening feature that allows users to ask, "Hey Siri, do I have the coronavirus?" Siri then takes them through a questionnaire prepared by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and U.S. Public Health Service to determine if they're exhibiting symptoms of the disease, such as fever, dry cough, and shortness of breath -- or if they've had contact with someone with the virus. from TechNewsWorld https://ift.tt/2xn5MpE

Steps can be taken to mitigate the threat of spreading the coronavirus to folks who are sheltering at home. For example, in many cases delivery drivers don't seem to have any protection, and if it's necessary to sign for something, customers are expected to touch a stylus or a screen that has been used by others. Drivers should be practicing social distancing, setting down packages at least six feet away instead of handing them to customers. Despite precautions, it's likely that someone in any given "isolated" home has or will get the virus. from TechNewsWorld https://ift.tt/2WOoaTp

Zorin OS 15.2, released on March 8, adds an impressive selection of upgrades and improvements to an already well-oiled Linux operating system. Since its debut in July 2009 Zorin OS cofounder Artyom Zorin has hawked his distribution as an ideal Microsoft Windows replacement. That description is a strong selling point for this easier-to-use computing platform, but anyone looking for a perfect Windows replacement will be disappointed. Of course, no Linux distro can be an actual Microsoft clone -- nor should it be. from TechNewsWorld https://ift.tt/2Uo3Ipn

Critical server outages cost businesses an average of $300,000 hourly, with many cases exceeding $5 million. As network demands increase and maximum uptime becomes a necessity, it is crucial to implement the proper processes and systems to ensure organizations constantly are able to mitigate the threat of outages. A host of factors can cause network or system downtime, from ISP carrier problems to power cuts and simple human errors. Additionally, network infrastructures are becoming more complicated. from TechNewsWorld https://ift.tt/2QxI9BP

As companies send employees home in an effort to curb the spread of COVID-19, cybersecurity experts are warning that telecommuting could be putting company assets and data at risk. There are a number of precautions that employees working from home should consider to ensure that sensitive data isn't compromised by cybercriminals taking advantage of the health crisis. One of the biggest problems is that employees working remotely often become relaxed and can let their guard down. from TechNewsWorld https://ift.tt/2xRL01T

Open Source software, once the scorn of Microsoft and profit-seeking software developers, is playing an active role in efforts to combat COVID-19's spread. Several open source projects are assisting health providers and helping people mitigate some of the hardships associated with the pandemic. Often, open source accomplishments in the public health and government services fields go unreported. This time, however, in response to COVID-19's worldwide assault, open source technologies are ramping up to pursue potentially world-saving results. from TechNewsWorld https://ift.tt/33qMGv0

Researchers into the COVID-19 virus have a new source of distributed computing power: crowdsourcing. Usually crowdsourcing involves information or opinion gathering, but in this case it involves computing power. By installing the Folding@home software program, anyone with a computer, gaming console, or even some phones and compute cycles to spare can contribute to the work of coronavirus researchers around the world. Folding@home is a distributed computing project from Stanford University's Pande Lab. from TechNewsWorld https://ift.tt/2IVnuTR

Project Baseline, a new website to facilitate screening and testing of people potentially infected with the COVID-19 virus, became available on Sunday. Verily, a company owned by Google parent Alphabet, launched the site. Access requires a Google login, and assistance currently is limited to residents in two counties in the San Francisco Bay Area. In addition to administering the website, Verily, which focuses on health and life sciences, is working with state, local and federal authorities to establish testing sites in the Bay Area. from TechNewsWorld https://ift.tt/2x0UYxq

We are up to our armpits in COVID-19 concerns. While the technology market could be devastated by it, there are several things tech players could do to mitigate the damage. Aside from having people work from home and stand six feet apart, the industry could take several innovative steps to mitigate the first manageable pandemic in the world's history. First is to establish a global video conferencing standard for interoperability. Second is to develop AR heat sensing glasses to spot fevers. Third is to curb fake news. from TechNewsWorld https://ift.tt/3aUEDce

Microsoft has announced the success of efforts to disrupt the Necurs botnet group blamed for infecting more than 9 million computers globally. There are 11 botnets under the Necurs umbrella, all apparently controlled by a single group, according to Valter Santos, security researcher at Bitsight, which worked with Microsoft on the takedown. Four of those botnets account for about 95 percent of all infections. "Necurs is the named exploit that is most consistently used," said tech analyst Rob Enderle. from TechNewsWorld https://ift.tt/2QayOiQ

Open Source vulnerabilities rose by nearly 50 percent in 2019 over the previous year, based on a new report. Common vulnerabilities rated as high or critical severity were found in all of the most popular open source projects, according to the WhiteSource 2020 annual report, "The State of Open Source Security Vulnerabilities." The vulnerability rate is expected to continue rising. As open source usage continues to grow, so does the number of eyes focused on open source security research. from TechNewsWorld https://ift.tt/2IDSYhg

The United States Office of Personnel Management last week urged agencies to prepare to allow federal employees to telework -- that is, work remotely.This came on the heels of the Department of Homeland Security closing its facilities in Washington state, after learning an employee had visited the Life Care facility in the city of Kirkland, which is ground zero for the state's COVID-19 outbreak. Federal employees were told to self-quarantine for two weeks, and the DHS building is being disinfected. from TechNewsWorld https://ift.tt/2Q8yyBd

Someday a future Monty Python comedy troupe will reprise the plague scene from the Holy Grail in which a character pushes a cart through a street shouting "Bring out your dead!" only to discover one who isn't dead yet. What will be funny about our era? Perhaps it will have something to do with overreacting by reordering society, as some have suggested. Those suggestions include ending tradeshows, scrapping office cubicles, installing industrial strength HVAC systems, and imposing untold additional torture on airline passengers. from TechNewsWorld https://ift.tt/2wMBpZD

Chromebooks with the right stuff inside now are able to install and run a complete Linux experience with the KDE desktop without giving up the Chrome OS on the same device. It is not yet flawless, but it does create a hybrid computing platform that lets Linux and Android apps coexist on top of the Chrome OS. I do not mean flashing the Galium OS distribution as a replacement for Chrome OS. I have done that on an end-of-life early Chromebook with usable results. However, I mean running a complete Linux graphical environment with the KDE desktop. from TechNewsWorld https://ift.tt/2TIhYdn

A number of VPN and ad-blocking apps owned by Sensor Tower, a popular analytics platform, have been collecting data from millions of people using the programs on their Android and iOS devices, according to a report. The software involved includes Free and Unlimited VPN, Luna VPN, Mobile Data, Adblock Focus for Android devices, and Adblock Focus and Luna VPN for iOS hardware. The apps have been collecting data and feeding it to Sensor Tower's products without disclosure to users. from TechNewsWorld https://ift.tt/39ITiqX

Twitter applied its "manipulative media" label to a deceptively edited video showing presidential hopeful Joe Biden saying, "re-elect Donald Trump" -- the first time the service enforced rules adopted to control synthetic and manipulated media. The flagged video was posted to Twitter by Dan Scavino, White House director of social media, and retweeted by the president. By the time Twitter labeled it, the video had been viewed 5 million times and retweeted 20,000 times. Scavino's video is edited to truncate Biden's remarks. from TechNewsWorld https://ift.tt/2IB9QFe

We apparently have no immunity to COVID-19, and a vaccine likely is around 18 months away. It takes a while to change human behavior, but if we go a full 18 months or more with people working from home and avoiding places like malls, big box stores, and other areas where people congregate -- like offices and events -- it will force a fundamental, permanent change in the way we work and interact. I expect we'll see a decline in large malls in favor of smaller more intimate shopping venues, and online shopping will accelerate sharply. from TechNewsWorld https://ift.tt/2IwAMWT

Foxconn, a key parts supplier for Apple, Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony, said its plants on mainland China will resume normal production by the end of March. Numerous factories across China were forced to shut down in late January due to the coronavirus. The impact of the outbreak could hit global supply chains for all products in mid-March, forcing thousands of companies to slow down or even temporarily shut assembly and manufacturing plants in Europe and the U.S., The Harvard Business Review predicted. from TechNewsWorld https://ift.tt/2wwLnhM

Elive is one of the most unusual Linux distributions you are likely to encounter. Elive Linux is an awesome integration of the Debian Linux base and the Enlightenment desktop. The combination provides a uniquely powerful and flexible computing platform. Its name suggests part of what makes this distro unlike the few others that have the Enlightenment desktop baked in. Elive is actually a live session environment that is capable of providing persistent memory so you can save settings and data without fully installing it to a hard drive. from TechNewsWorld https://ift.tt/32Y0Tzg

The coronavirus, or COVID-19, presents the biggest threat to the global economy since the Great Recession of 2008 -- not to mention the threat to human life. The outbreak already is decimating the travel and leisure industry, and forcing trade shows to scale down or cancel. It threatens many sectors, and it will have a negative impact on consumer sentiment and purchasing patterns. Industries particularly affected are those that rely on raw materials, components, or finished product manufacturing in regions hard hit by the outbreak. from TechNewsWorld https://ift.tt/2uW0roy

After two years of litigation, Apple has agreed to pay up to $500 million to settle a class action lawsuit alleging it slowed down older iPhones in order to push consumers into buying its later, more expensive models. The devices covered in the agreement are iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 6s Plus, 7, 7 Plus, and iPhone SE models that ran iOS 10.2.1 or later, and iPhone 7 and 7 Plus models that ran iOS 11.2 or later before Dec. 21, 2017. Consumers complained that their iPhones' performance suffered after they installed the Apple software updates. from TechNewsWorld https://ift.tt/2TnjmCf

YouTube's efforts to reduce the spread of conspiracy theories on the platform appear to be bearing fruit. "Our analysis corroborates that YouTube acted upon it's policy and significantly reduced the overall volume of recommended conspiratorial content," three researchers wrote in a study from the University of California, Berkeley. Because information is spread on YouTube largely through recommendations, the researchers spent 15 months studying 8 million recommendations from the platform's next-watch algorithm. from TechNewsWorld https://ift.tt/2TzzVJR

IBM's latest effort to solve global problems has evolved from a focus on catastrophic events, which increasingly are caused by climate change, to climate change itself. It is a huge jump to go from dealing with the symptoms of a problem, which generally is relatively easy, to dealing with the causes, particularly global scale. However, it is critical for a sustained impact that makes a real difference, as opposed to playing Whac-A-Mole with catastrophic weather events -- and increasingly losing the game. from TechNewsWorld https://ift.tt/38gYT60