Hands On With Microsoft's ChatGPT-Powered Bing: A New Kind of Search
No need to type in keywords to produce a relevant search. Microsoft's new Bing excels when you give it a task, whether that's planning a trip, summarizing a topic, or writing an article.
Hogwarts Legacy: Why I won't be playing the new Harry Potter game
Regardless of the game's content, it's unavoidably tied to one of an author who has gained international notoriety as an anti-trans figure.
Microsoft thinks AI can beat Google at search CEO Satya Nadella explains why
Microsoft had a big event today. They talked about how AI is coming for your browser, your social media, and your operating system, too.
Sync folders easily and securely, even across far-flung devices
Sync folders easily and securely, even across far-flung devices
Sync folders easily and securely, even across far-flung devices
OnePlus Ace 2 Officially Revealed: Dedicated Processor 'SuperVooc S' Improves Efficiency
OnePlus Ace 2 has officially been announced in China, and its specs have been revealed. Learn more.
A cross-platform backup and synchronisation utility that's packed with features
Time Windows startup to check the effectiveness of tweaks
Avast Premium Security 23.1.7883
Avast's premium securitysuite is more powerful than ever
Avast Free Antivirus 23.1.7883
One of the most popular free security suites receives a major update
AVG Internet Security 23.1.7883
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Combined AVAST and AVG technology for one powerful free security tool
Avast Clear (Uninstall Utility) 23.1.7883
Tidy up your system after using the avast! uninstaller
Produce a PDF document from just about any Windows application
Createindustry-standard PDF files from any Windows application.
View your IE, Firefox, Chrome and Safari browsing history from one tiny application
Voice.ai denies claim it violated open source software code
Maker of voice changing software says it has removed GPLv3 code
Samsung Galaxy S23 Feature: Bypass Battery, Run on Direct Charging Power via Game BoosterHow?
Samsung's latest feature is nifty for gamers and those who want to save battery life.
The 6 Best Apple Watch Cases in 2023
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Mary, Queen of Scots' Secret Letters Found and Decrypted
Most of the correspondence was with the French ambassador and primarily about conspiracies, mystery and captivity.
Researchers Decrypt Coded Letters Written by Mary, Queen of Scots
The 445-year-old missives offer new details about Mary's experience as a prisoner of Queen Elizabeth I.
Microsoft Launches AI-powered Bing Search Engine With ChatGPT Features
Bing will now do more than just provide a list of search results!
5 Things You'll Be Able to Do on Microsoft's New AI-Powered Bing
Refine search results, summarize topics and generate writing with Bing as your co-pilot
Zoom Slashes 15% of Staff in Latest Tech Layoffs
CEO Eric Yuan said the cuts are due to economic uncertainty.
Clock Your Camera With This Shutter Speed Tester
Camera shutter speed is an essential adjustment in photography - along with the aperture, the shutter moderates the amount of light entering the camera. Older cameras (and some newer ones) use mechani...
OnePlus takes on the iPad with the OnePlus Pad
It's a midrange-ish tablet with a pen, keyboard, and aluminum body.
NASA All-Electric Aircraft Update: X-57 Maxwell's Almost Ready to Fly! What's the Next Step?
Here's when its first flight might happen.
Weeks Before Launch, NASA Tells Private Partner to Change Lunar Landing Site to South Pole
The sudden change in geography should result in a slight delay to the mission, but it'll allow NASA to explore the region ahead of its crewed Artemis missions.
OnePlus Takes the Wraps Off OnePlus 11 5G and OnePlus Pad
The last few OnePlus release cycles have been lackluster, but 2023 is shaping up to be a banner year. The post OnePlus Takes the Wraps Off OnePlus 11 5G and OnePlus Pad appeared first on ExtremeTech .
Google will soon default to blurring explicit image search results
Unless you're logged in and over 18, don't expect to find violent or racy stuff.
AMC's 'Fix' For Declining Movie Theater Attendance? Charging You More Money To Sit In The Same Seats
You might recall that during pandemic lockdowns, AMC executives threw a massive temper tantrum because companies like Comcast/NBC began experimenting with slightly more innovative release windows. AMC was mad because the pandemic highlighted how the 90-da
Best VPN services 2023: todays top picks
It's scary knowing your data might not be private. VPNs help shield your online activities. To help you pick the right one, these are our favorite VPN services.
Over 400 Food Products Recalled Following Listeria Concerns
Hundreds of ready-to-eat sandwiches, salads, yogurts, wraps and more were recalled after a Baltimore-based food company found listeria in its facility.
Microsoft set to hold mystery event as ChatGPT competition heats up
Microsoft on Tuesday is set to hold a mystery event at its Redmond, Washington headquarters, weeks after it confirmed plans to invest billions in OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT.
Sen. Daines's Twitter account suspended after posting profile picture of himself hunting
Twitter has suspended Montana Republican Sen. Steve Daines's account for violations of the company's sensitive media policy.
'Money Heist' Spin-off 'Berlin' Reveals Release Date Trailer on Netflix
Plan a new heist from the people behind La Casa de Papel.
Qualys now supports macOS in its cloud security tools
Qualys , sometimes described as one of the pioneering SaaS vendors, has bent with the times to begin offering Mac support within its cloud security offering. A pioneer in SaaS goes Mac Since it launched in 1999, Qualys has traditionally offered its servic
Texas Is Banning TikTok From State Government Devices
The new Texas rules will bar TikTok from all state-issued cell phones, laptops, desktops, and tablets. Nearly 30 states have enacted similar bans.
OnePlus Buds Pro 2 Review: Making a Good Thing Better
The OnePlus Buds Pro 2 builds on the excellent approach of its successor, and promises to outperform much of the increasingly popular mid-range price segment for true wireless earphones in India. Is this the best mid-range TWS headset you can buy right now? Find out in this review.
OnePlus 11 5G Review: The One to Beat?
The OnePlus 11 5G is the company's first flagship for 2023. It comes with a host of improvements over the OnePlus 10 Pro 5G but in a familiar design. Should this be your next flagship? Find out in our review.
As Antarctic fieldwork ends, a sexual harassment reckoning looms
A 2022 report described harassment as a fact of life on the continent.
Tech finally has its own seat at the government table
A new government department signals a change in how Whitehall views technology. For years, digital has been the red-headed stepchild of the Conservative government. Successive Prime Ministers have talked a good game on the importance of technology investment, while at the same time lumping it in with unrelated subjects in the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, aka the we don't really know where this goes department. Now Rishi Sunak has created a new government department as part of a mini cabinet reshuffle: the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, which will see science and technology finally have a dedicated seat at the cabinet table. That seat will be filled by the former head of DCMS, Michelle Donelan (shortly to go on maternity leave), which it's fair to say has been a controversial move given her lack of industry experience. So good that Sunak has created a new department of Science, Innovation and Technology, and its new minister has a BA in history and politics, and worked for a time marketing Marie Claire magazine and WWE. Howard Oakley, Eclectic Light Co (@howardnoakley) February 7, 2023 It says so much about Britain that the Secretary of State for the newly formed Department of Science, Innovation and Technology has a politics and history degree, rather than a sciences background. realhansard (@realhansard) February 7, 2023 That aside, the tech sector has largely welcomed the news that it will be prioritised in government, at last. Gerard Grech, CEO of ( soon-to-be-defunct ) startup accelerator Tech Nation, said, Science and technology innovation...is a high order priority that requires a singular focus, resourcing and, most importantly, expertise. Having a dedicated department that can aggregate the critical policy levers that drive disruptive UK innovation whilst working with other departments will be very productive and will stimulate new value creation. Likewise Martin Taylor, co-founder and deputy CEO of Content Guru, said the creation of the new department is an important step in the UK's goal to become the next Silicon Valley. He noted that the government's approach to supporting the sector is changing, however, with the defunding of Tech Nation - a not-for-profit with a track record of scaling up businesses like Just Eat, Darktrace and Ocado - an obvious indicator. The sooner the government can launch DSIT (isn't is a good thing 'health' isn't part of its remit?), the better. Like other private sector industries, tech has lacked certainty about its future since the Brexit vote in 2016. It's fair to say we haven't been blown away by the government's commitment to technology in recent years, despite supportive words from five different PMs, but we'll reserve judgement until we see what DSIT produces. Setting up the new department is the first real, positive change in over a decade and it would be churlish to discount it just because of a 13-year track record of weak support (okay, that's the last of the cynicism. Promise).
Apple has a plan to fix Mac gaming but will it work?
Mac gaming has always lagged behind its PC equivalent, but a new interview shows Apple wants to change that with the help of Apple silicon and the Metal API.
Don't Want to Suffer the Buffer During the Big Game? Here's What You Need to Do
Don't let a lag cause a delay of the game. Troubleshoot your issues beforehand to avoid missing any action.
Tinder Will Now Let You Hide From Your Boss
Tinder has new and updated safety features.
Fake Online Recruiters Looking to Scam Job Seekers
Careful who you connect with. What looks like the perfect job may actually be a scam.
I have one settler assigned to the water pump at all times, making sure that the distiller is working overtime to make sure everyone has enough to drink and all the buildings that can benefit from freshwater are topped up.Meanwhile, I am checking the bird
Government's digital strategy has been 'wholly inadequate' and 'lacking in ambition', Chi Onwurah
Shadow minister's remarks come as government announces a dedicated Department for Science, Innovation and Technology Speaking at OpenUK 's State of Open Conference in Westminster, just as PM Rishi Sunak was announcing a mini-government reshuffle, Chi Onwurah, Labour MP for Newcastle upon Tyne Central and shadow minister for science, research & technology, said open source presents an opportunity to democratise technology and also to foster collaboration, driving competition and innovation. Unusually for an MP, Onwurah has a background in technology, both as a hardware engineer producing motherboards and on the regulatory side as head of telecoms technology at Ofcom. In her current role, she has focussed largely on cybersecurity, social entrepreneurship and open government. I do think that there's so much opportunity to increase the sort of the accessibility and openness of our government and parliament through open data, she said, assessing the government's legislative and policy agenda on digital so far as lacking ambition and being wholly inadequate It doesn't understand or reflect the opportunities of technology, Onwurah said. She was particularly critical of an attitude that sees regulation as red tape, rather than something that can level the playing field and foster innovation. Regulation can lead to that innovation, and also regulation can support innovation. It can support particularly in many ways, but access of smaller, more agile companies, to government contracts, to marketplaces, she said. I think the government has the wrong-headed idea that regulation is anti-growth. There's strong evidence that the lack of agile regulation is undermining competition across many sectors of our economy, dragging down innovation and productivity, and I think that is true in open source. As a result we have one of the lowest levels of business investment in the G7. And many of our great tech startups, are being bought up or moving abroad due to a lack of finance, which is related in part to the lack of regulatory certainty. Open data, agile regulation and a stronger focus on open source can be a prime lever for improved transparency and productivity, she argued. There's so much opportunity there, driving improvements, bringing services closer to people, making them more effective and efficient, alongside ensuring we have a connected Britain using 5G innovation to its full potential. So the choice is clear, unlock the power of the digital revolution in the interests of the many or continue to benefit a smaller few. A new Department for Science, Innovation and Technology While Onwurah was delivering her speech, the government announced a restructure, including the creation of a new department, taking some responsibilities from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. A dedicated Department for Science, Innovation and Technology will drive the innovation that will deliver improved public services, create new and better-paid jobs and grow the economy, a Downing Street spokesperson said. Having a single department focussed on turning scientific and technical innovations into practical, appliable solutions to the challenges we face will help make sure the UK is the most innovative economy in the world. Current culture secretary Michelle Donelan will be the new secretary of state for the department. A new Department for Energy Security and Net Zero was also announced
Google unveils AI chatbot 'Bard' - its answer to ChatGPT
Pichai says it is exciting to work on technologies that truly help people Alphabet, the parent company of Google, on Monday announced its AI chatbot technology called Bard, which the company claims will provide fresh, high-quality responses to users ' queries by drawing on information from the web. In a blog post announcing the initiative, Google CEO Sundar Pichai called the programme an experimental conversational AI service that will be made available to the public in the coming weeks. We ' ve been working on an experimental conversational AI service, powered by LaMDA, that we ' re calling Bard. And today, we ' re taking another step forward by opening it up to trusted testers ahead of making it more widely available to the public in the coming weeks, Pichai wrote. The announcement follows the public's rapid acceptance of ChatGPT, a rival chatbot from Microsoft-backed OpenAI that has taken the internet by storm since its debut in November last year. Although the underlying technology of ChatGPT is not ground-breaking, OpenAI's choice to make the system freely accessible on the web exposed millions of people to this innovative form of automated text generation. Use of ChatGPT has also triggered debates regarding its impact on education, employment, and the future of internet search. Meanwhile, the hurried release and lack of detailed information about Bard are signs of Google's code red alert, triggered by the launch of ChatGPT. LaMDA, Google's language model based on Transformer, a neural network architecture, is at the heart of Google's chatbot. Interestingly, ChatGPT is also based on the GPT-3 language model, which is likewise built on Transformer. Transformer was created by Google Research and released for use in 2017. This technology, which can anticipate outcomes based on inputs, is mostly used in computer vision and natural language processing. In his blog post , Pichai provided an example of how Bard may be used to simplify complicated topics, like explaining recent findings made by NASA's James Webb Space Telescope to a nine-year-old child. In a service demo, Bard, like its competitor chatbot, invites users to offer it a prompt while warning that its answer may be inaccurate. Pichai stressed the need of rigorous testing for Bard, adding: We ' ll combine external feedback with our own internal testing to make sure Bard ' s responses meet a high bar for quality, safety and groundedness in real-world information. At this time, Google is releasing a lightweight model version of LaMDA, which requires far less computational resources, thereby enabling Google to receive more feedback. Google has been working on its language model for some time, but the firm halted its public release after allegations from one of its employees, who said Google's LaMDA tools was sentient . Blake Lemoine, ex-Google engineer, began talking to LaMDA last year as part of his role in for Google's Responsible AI organisation, testing whether the tool used discriminatory or hate speech. Lemoine said LaMDA talked about personhood and ights, and asked to be recognised as an employee rather than property. Lemoine claimed he went to Google vice president Blaise Aguera y Arcas and head of responsible innovation Jen Gennai with his suspicions, but they dismissed his claims. The engineer was later fired by the company. On the most recent earnings call, Pichai said that the world is now ready for generative AI. I feel comfortable with all the investments we have made in making sure we can develop AI responsibly and we'll be careful, he said.
Why Rimini Street is introducing a four-day week
Happier staff and no loss of productivity makes it a no-brainer, says general manager EMEA Emma Hose Rimini Street formally introduced a four-day working week for all staff this month. The company, which provides third party maintenance services primarily for enterprise software from SAP and Oracle, employs 1,900 people around the world, mostly senior engineers almost all of whom work from home. During the pandemic, overwork and isolation meant that burnout became a problem. As well as typically working longer hours, most opportunities for employees to unwind had been shut down. Last summer, as an experiment, the company introduced a scheme called Fabulous Fridays as a way of addressing the issue. Employees could take one working day off per week to do as they liked - so long as they were within reach of a phone and a laptop in case a customer had an emergency that only they could fix: Rimini Street's SLA commits it to 24/7 support with a 10-minute response time. Despite the name, the off day doesn't have to be a Friday, said GVP & regional general manager EMEA Emma Hose. Indeed, the favoured day varies from country to country and the company needs to retain some residual capacity, but it's mostly organised between groups and in consultation with clients. There's been a tremendous enthusiasm for it, Hose said. We were one of the first to do working from home, and now we're one of the first to do a four-day week. And actually, our clients keep asking how it's going and are interested in potentially trying it themselves. Inspiration came from earlier experiments in New Zealand and the Nordics, where they tend to be very innovative, including trials in the public sector, Hose said. Working from home sometimes can be quite isolating, and we always look at where to engage better with our colleagues. Unsurprisingly, the scheme has proved popular with employees, but has it led to gaps in coverage? Hose insists there has been no loss of productivity or quality of delivery during the trial period, which is why the Rimini Street is making Fabulous Fridays official policy, as of this month. The scheme applies to all employees, not just WFH engineers, and salaries and benefits remain unchanged. To be honest, they probably do the same work, it's just done over four days instead of five, said Hose. We haven't changed the salary or their bonuses because the productivity has been great. The scheme has also proved positive for hiring. The company grew last year by 17%, according to its own figures, and experienced tech staff are still, despite the current round of layoffs in the sector , highly in demand and hard to find in many areas. We don't have a lot of juniors in our organisation because of the work that we do, so being able to provide this flexibility helps with retention, and it also helps us attract new talent. While the four-day week is a good fit for Rimini Street , Hose said it might not be so successful for companies with a higher turnover. It's maybe not for everyone. We are lucky that we work with very mature people who know how to work and achieve their goal within a certain timeframe, she explained.
Nothing Phone (2) Specs Revealed: 120 Hz, 12GB RAM, 256 GB Storage, and More
Specs for the Nothing Phone (2) have dropped, including 12 GB RAM and 256 GB storage. Learn more.
A powerful FTP client with many useful features
Tired of waiting for Explorer to grind through a lengthy file copy job? Then try this speedy alternative
Adblock Plus for Chrome 3.16.1
Automatically block annoying ads in seconds with this essential Chrome add-on
This Tesla EV model will save the Wisconsin Somerset police department $80,000 for the next decade to come.
Back up, restore and update your drivers with this handy maintenance tool
Elon Musk says SpaceX eying March for first orbital test of Starship rocket
SpaceX is eyeing March for the first launch of its next-generation rocket, though CEO Elon Musk admitted that the mission's success is far from guaranteed.
OG DOOM Shows off the Origins of Multi-Monitor
We have a thing for DOOM, and we admit it. The source was released, and clever hackers have ported the engine to every system imaginable. It's a right of passage, when hacking a machine, to run DOOM o...
'We need more women in tech': An interview with MotherBoard founder Sophie Creese
Sophie Creese from MotherBoard sets out what being a signatory to the MotherBoard charter involves. MotherBoard is a business charter, community, event series and podcast, which aims to support tech employers to become more inclusive environments for women - particularly mothers. Here, Sophie Creese, MotherBoard Founder and Head of Tech Recruitment at ADLIB, explains why she set up MotherBoard, why it's so important to get more women in tech product design rooms and what signing up to the MotherBoard charter involves.
Oppo Find X6 Specs Revealed: ToF LiDAR Sensor and More
Discover Oppo's latest flagship device, the rumored Find X6 Pro. Learn more about its specs.
Microsoft investigates Outlook.com outage that leaves users unable to send and receive emails
Is Outlook down? For many people this is most definitely the case. Microsoft is currently investigating an outage with its email service which it says primarily affects users in North America, but acknowledges that there will be impact in other parts of t
Twitter stops forcing 'For You' timeline on iOS and Android users
The app now remembers your last choice.
Tuesday's top tech news: a new era for Microsoft's Bing
Microsoft prepares to make a big Bing announcement, Sonos' next speakers look set to be called the Era 300 and Era 100, and the Super Bowl could be crypto-free this year.
Actively exploited GoAnywhere MFT zero-day gets emergency patch
Fortra has released an emergency patch to address an actively exploited zero-day vulnerability in the GoAnywhere MFT secure file transfer tool. [...]
Mozilla, Google looking ahead to the end of Apple's WebKit
Work on a Gecko-based version of Firefox for iOS is underway, again
British engineering firm Vesuvius suffers cyberattack
Details are emerging from the latest UK company to be hit Vesuvius, a London-headquartered molten metal flow engineering firm, disclosed on Monday that it was currently managing a cyber incident that involved unauthorised access to its systems. After discovering unauthorised activity on its networks, the company says it took required measures to respond to the issue, including shutting down all impacted systems. Vesuvius is currently collaborating with a number of cyber experts to determine the extent and possible consequences of the event, including the impact on manufacturing and contract fulfilment. We are taking steps to comply with all relevant regulatory obligations in light of the information that emerges from our ongoing investigations, the company said . Details of the incident are scant at the moment. There is no indication of the scope of the incident or which IT systems Vesuvius may have been compromised. Additionally, there is no explanation of the attack's nature or if the attackers have communicated with the company in any way. Vesuvius is London Stock Exchange-listed firm that specialises in molten metal flow engineering and technology. It mainly serves process industries that operate in difficult high temperature conditions. The firm creates customised solutions, such as flow control systems, advanced refractories and other consumable products, as well as technical services relating to those products, such as data capture. Vesuvius employs over 10,000 people and is among the 250 most valuable companies on the London Stock Exchange. For the fiscal year 2021, the firm reported revenue of more than 1.6 billion. The incident is the latest in a series of cyberattacks against British organisations in recent months. Morgan Advanced Materials Plc, a provider of speciality chemicals, announced last month it had been the victim of a cyber incident. Also last month, a ransomware attack on the Royal Mail impacted its worldwide letter and package deliveries for many days. Last week, a ransomware attack was launched against a major financial software provider, ION, causing severe disruption for trading in the City of London. ABN Amro Clearing and Intesa Sanpaolo, Italy's largest bank, are among the many ION customers whose operations have been impacted as a result of the attack. The LockBit ransomware gang, which claimed responsibility for ION attack, says it has received the demanded ransom . The group had earlier threatened to publish material stolen from the company if the extortion payment was not paid by 4th February. Ransomware has emerged as one of the most costly and disruptive issues for companies worldwide in recent years. The UK now ranks third in a list of countries where businesses suffer the most ransomware attacks, security vendor NordLocker said in a report in September. NordLocker examined 18 sectors and found that business services suffered the highest number of ransomware attacks (10.1%), followed by education (9.7%), construction (8.9%), transportation (7.7%), manufacturing (7.3%) and public sector institutions (5.7%). Conti and LockBit were the two most active ransomware gangs targeting the UK, claiming responsibility for 22.2% and 11.5% of attacks, respectively. They were also the most active groups worldwide.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Crossed $1 Billion in Sales Within 10 Days of Launch, Says Activision
Activision Blizzard beat Wall Street estimates for fourth-quarter adjusted sales on Monday, thanks to the success of the latest game in its Call of Duty franchise. The latest Call of Duty crossed the $1 billion (roughly Rs. 8,275 crore) mark within 10 days of its late-October launch, the company said.
Wordle Today: Hints, Clues and Answer for February 7
Get help solving Wordle 598.
'Quordle' today: Here are the answers and hints for February 6
Stuck on 'Quordle' #378? We'll give you the hints and tips you need (and also the answers).
Gameball raises $3M to scale its CRM platform for consumer brands
The uptake of customer relationship management (CRM) tools has grown immensely over the last few years such that the market size is expected to experience a 12.5% compound annual growth rate, and to be worth $145.79 billion in the next six years. This gro
Neanderthals Dined on Cooked Crabs, Bucking Primitive Stereotypes
They probably didn't use dipping sauces, though.
KEF's new Dolby Atmos speakers include an 'acoustic black hole' for better sound
KEF's impressive new R Series speakers bring audiophile-grade sound to your home but they aren't cheap.
'Quordle' today: Here are the answers and hints for February 7
Stuck on 'Quordle' #379? We'll give you the hints and tips you need (and also the answers).
A flexible video conferencing tool with support for up to 100 users for free
A flexible video conferencing tool with support for up to 100 users for free
A multi-track recording studio for your computer
Italy Update on Ransomware Says Global Servers are at Risk
The Italian National Cybersecurity Agency is warning the world about a global-scale ransomware attack that targets servers. Learn more.
K-Lite Codec Pack Update 17.4.3
Update K-Lite Codec Pack (any version) to the latest build
A powerful set of tools for manually removing malware and repairing your PC
Google launches AI chatbot Bard to rival wildly successful ChatGPT
Google's parent firm Alphabet Inc announced the release of the conversational AI service, which will be rolled out to
Major Leak Shows ChatGPT-Powered Microsoft Bing Search Engine
Microsoft hasn't commented on the
Scientists Use CRISPR to Combine Alligator, Catfish DNA to Make a Hybrid
Would you eat a catfish with an alligator gene?
Google takes on ChatGPT with new AI program named Bard
If you ever needed artificial intelligence's help to plan a friend's baby shower, your time has come, as Google unveiled its ChatGPT competitor it's calling Bard.
Best Earbuds for Phone Calls for 2023: Earbuds With Mic
Make and take voice calls with the best wireless headphones and earbuds available.
Best Home Exercise Equipment for 2023
Everything you need to bring the gym home.
