Small and Medium Businesses (SMBs) in South India, using older PCs, are likely to experience reduced work place productivity and security vulnerablities, according to a Microsoft study. SMBs using computers that are over four years old and running older operating systems will experience significantly reduced workplace productivity as compared to newer PCs, it said. The older PCs also expose organisations to security vulnerabilities and IT threats, according to Farhana Haque, Group Director-Devices, Microsoft India. SMBs have experienced older PCs being repaired almost four times than that of new PCs. This can amount to at least 96 hours' worth of productive time lost, a press release quoting her said. Recovering data and maintaining business continuity is among the topmost challenges for SMBs in the South. In the last year alone, 25 per cent of SMBs surveyed in South India said they had experienced a security breach. Nearly 40 per cent of SMBs in the southern states are using … [Read more...] about Older PCs can lead to productivity loss, security vulnerabilities for SMBs in South India: Study
Hunters Set to Round Up Giant Burmese Pythons in Florida Challenge
The state of Florida is preparing to host the Super Bowl in January … and to wipe out as many invasive pythons as possible. On Dec. 5, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced the date for Python Bowl 2020. The annual Python Challenge recruits hunters in Florida and trains them to spot, capture and remove or humanely kill the big snakes. The python hunter who removes the most pythons will win an ATV; the person who captures the largest individual snake will be awarded $2,000. "The protection of our environment and natural resources is critical," DeSantis said in a statement. "Invasive Burmese pythons have decimated local wildlife and pose a massive threat to natural food chains and flora and fauna."Related: In Photos: Hungry Python Eats Porcupine WholeBurmese pythons (Python bivittatus) have become a persistent problem in the Florida Everglades. Probably released accidentally by pet owners, these snakes have gotten a foothold in Florida's marshy ecosystem, breeding rapidly. … [Read more...] about Hunters Set to Round Up Giant Burmese Pythons in Florida Challenge
Metacritic has removed over 6,000 negative Death Stranding ratings
Why it matters: Death Stranding has proved to be a real love it or hate it game for many people. Now, more controversy is surrounding Hideo Kojima’s title after Metacritic deleted over 6,000 negative ratings, pushing its score up from 5.1. to 7.4. The change was first reported by Redditor argandg, who noted that while there were 78 new positive ratings between the 4th and 5th of December, the number of negatives dropped by 6,429—from 9,335 to just 2,906. At the time of writing, there are 8,864 positive ratings and 3,207 negatives. Metacritic has confirmed it removed several user ratings after they were flagged for “suspicious activity.” It says the decision was to avoid “potential score manipulation,” also known as review bombing. “Metacritic takes issues of potential score manipulation seriously and has a number of policies in place to maintain score integrity. Moderators regularly review the site and remove any entries that do not fall … [Read more...] about Metacritic has removed over 6,000 negative Death Stranding ratings
How the cloud, an army of drones, and 3D mesh is saving the world’s vital infrastructure
Infrastructure is literally crumbling in many major cities. Fortunately, a number of new technologies are converging to assist in overdue inspections of vital infrastructure such as road and railway bridges."Typically, municipalities or private companies send out a large team of inspectors and need to close certain sections of the bridges to traffic," says Michael Diener, engineering manager at StrucInspect, a company focusing on improving on that method with technology. "And some areas are hard or impossible for a human inspector to reach, creating the risk that a defect might go unnoticed."Drones and 3D cameras can help. Vienna-based StrucInspect overcomes these challenges with an innovative service based on 3D modeling and artificial intelligence. The company captures thousands of images from drones and terrestrial cameras to create a precise 3D replica of the structure's exterior and interior—including hard-to-reach places. Then customers receive a full report, including a … [Read more...] about How the cloud, an army of drones, and 3D mesh is saving the world’s vital infrastructure
WhatsApp call waiting feature comes to Android smartphones
After rolling out the call waiting feature for iPhone, the feature has now been rolled out to Android users. The feature — that was rolled out to iPhone users last month — notifies users about a call when they are on another call. This feature has been rolled out with the latest update to the app with version 2.19.352 and is mentioned in the changelog of this app update as well. After updating the app if a WhatsApp user is on a call, they will get an alert to accept or decline the call. Before this update, whenever a WhatsApp user was on a call, the second call would automatically get disconnected and they would see a notification later after the call ended. Along with this feature, this app update also brings updated group privacy feature. Thanks to this feature, WhatsApp users can control who can add them to groups. Along with this, WhatsApp also rolled out a bug fix for an issue that several users reported led to massive battery drainage. As mentioned above, the call … [Read more...] about WhatsApp call waiting feature comes to Android smartphones
