That company is NSO Group, an Israeli firm that creates software for intelligence agencies and governments. NSO helps those entities collect data from individual devices. In other words, the company develops technology that helps agencies spy on users and essentially steal their data. Spyware The new spyware copies authentication keys of services owned by these companies, such as iCloud of OneDrive on a device. With these authentication keys, the tool runs them from a separate server to essentially mimic the device from a remote location....

Specifically, the platform state before the installation of KB5001330: “If you are seeing lower performance in games, check if rolling back Windows 10 Update KB5000842 solves the issue,” says the NVIDIA staff member on an official blog post. As you can see, the advice recommends removing Windows 10 optional update KB5000842, which was actually released in March before KB5001330. In other words, it seems the gaming problems have been present across all of Microsoft’s recent optional updates....

Unsurprisingly, one of the month’s big focuses was enterprise. Microsoft announced worldwide availability of Microsoft 365 Business, with several new apps to match. Microsoft Connections, Microsoft Listings, and Microsoft Invoicing all users manage their business. Alongside it was several improvements to privacy, security, and compliance. Microsoft’s Advanced eDiscovery lets organizations analyze Office 365 data to find information about specific people or topics. Thanks to an update in November, users can now import content from outside of Office 365, greatly extending its use cases....

The integrations highlighted were first showcased by Microsoft at Ignite 2018 and appear to be ready for a general release. The first is the ability to hover over a contact’s name to see information from their LinkedIn profile. This feature is coming to Outlook for Web, OneDrive, and SharePoint, making it easier to start conversations. Second, the ability to directly interact with first-degree LinkedIn contacts has received a targeted release....

Previously, OneNote for Android users had to set a password on the desktop to protect their data on their phone. It was an annoying workaround that many users complained about and likely stopped some from using it at all. As a result, Microsoft has decided to kill two birds with one stone. Alongside fingerprint support, you can now set text passwords on Android. This should make password protection available to everyone, and OneNote infinitely more secure....

However, in the second quarter PC market took a hit and sales declined according to both IDC and Gartner. During the COVID-19 pandemic during 2020, PC shipments were impressive as people turned to remote work. However, sales now seem to be slowing, but demand may only play a bit part role in the reason why. A global chip shortage is impacting the availability of new laptops and desktops. Still, it is hard to reason that those who needed a PC in 2020 because of the pandemic has already bought one, so demand is now falling....

TPU’s research builds on an earlier report from AV-Comparatives in May. That first report showed how Microsoft Defender was amongst the worst anti-virus solutions for hogging system resources. TPU follows up by saying this is probably down to a bug in the service. The outlet comes to the conclusion because it seems Defender’s system hogging only affects Intel processors and not AMD. TPU discovered the MsMpEng .exe file – the process for Microsoft Defender – chews through Intel CPU cycles....

Of course, Facebook has plenty of sketchy content and a history of doing bad things, but Russia throwing the human rights card around seems a bit rich. The real reason is to retaliate against Facebook for restricting accounts of Russian media outlets. Banning the network also has the bonus of stopping Russians from using Facebook to criticize the Ukraine invasion. Facebook has recently restricted the accounts of Zvezda TV, RIA Novosti news agency, and the websites Gazeta....

However, Twitter argues it does not allow illegal content. Moscow has been taking a tough stance on Big Tech companies. Reuters reports Roskomnadzor says Twitter hosts details on drug abuse, promotes suicide, and has child pornography. Twitter denies the accusations and points to political motives. Specifically, Russia has been pushing tech giants to have official representation in the country. It has been issuing small fines to several Big Tech companies during the year....

Firmware update R8xxXXU1GV13 from Samsung is bricking the company’s Galaxy Watch 4 smartwatch. In terms of firmware bugs, this is about as bad as it gets. Issues with functionality are one thing, but the whole device becoming a brick is something quite special. According to users, when they apply the firmware update their watch will turn off to finalize the patch but it will not come back on. The message is clear, avoid this update....

Now, the South Korean giant seemingly wants to include all the cameras on an upcoming device. According to reports, Samsung is working on a quadruple lens setup for its next flagship device. Of course, the company has just launched the Galaxy Note 9, its latest flagship device. However, Samsung is a rare company that launches two flagship handsets each year. The Galaxy S series is released in the first months of the year, and the Note series comes in late summer....

This is among the most significant partnerships Slack has organized yet. The relatively nascent start-up has made a big splash since it launched in 2013. Since then, the chat software has positioned itself as a leading enterprise solution. Slack now competes directly with Microsoft Teams and Facebook. The company believes potential partners are seeking out Slack before its rivals: “As you see all these large enterprise software companies looking at messaging as a major platform, they’re looking to partner with us first and foremost,” says Brad Armstrong, Slack’s head of global business and corporate development....

Not just by a small amount. Indeed, the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT) says shipments fell 15.5 percent during the year. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology’s research institute said 390 million units were sold. Market research company Canalys echoes the decline, although the firm pegs the drop at 12 percent. However, Canalys says more than 400 million units were shipped. Still, that will likely change in 2019, where the company expects shipments of below 400 million for the first time since 2014....

We covered Microsoft’s response the attack last year. Security expert Paul Nicholas called for a shift in organization’s view of cybersecurity. However, reports from antivirus firm Dr. Web reveal that Windows devices now play a significant role. First, it’s important to understand how it functioned. The botnet infected a host of IoT devices with malware. Devices include printers, cameras, baby monitors and more. Attackers used the botnet to perform a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack of 1....

Engineers chose to build the camera with the end goal of putting it on an observatory deep in the Andes mountains in Chile. While The camera is not working at the moment, the SLAC National Accelerator Team says LSST will be up and running soon. LSST or “Large Synoptic Survey Telescope” is a new digital camera that is still in development. Eventually, it will be put on the El Penon observatory which is located on Cerro Pachon at 2,682 meters in the Chilean Andes....

Details about the program were announced before President Trump signed off on the deal. The government has introduced the American A.I. Initiative to maintain the country’s position as an innovation leader. Among the remits of the executive order are models for creating AI solutions. Trump said the initiative will deliver “bold, decisive actions” for AI development. As is usual with the Trump administration, the plan is heavy on hyperbole but low on concise details....

The final result looks similar to Apple’s Spotlight search for macOS and replaces the Cortana search interface. So far, it’s present in Windows 10 build 17040, which became available to Insiders last week. Microsoft uses the builds to test upcoming features, so it’s possible the new Windows 10 search will come with Redstone 4. New Features Ultimately, it will depend on how users react to the change. Currently, it doesn’t do much new, it simply looks pretty and takes up more space....

Announced on the Steam Deck Twitter account, the company has made the following changes for Windows 10. Valve previously added audio drivers in October, so this update is focused on “various compatibility, security, stability, and performance improvements for Windows on Steam Deck.” That is pretty vague and Valve does not go into more detail on either the tweet or the Steam Deck Windows driver page. And no, the ability to dual boot to SteamOS is still not available....

The app also allows you to import 3D models you already have available, since it supports FBX, DAE, OBJ, and STL file types among others. It features automatic shader conversion to stereo rendering and a great variety of 3D holographic editing tools such as box select, 3-axis translation, rotation, etc. “Also included is built-in cloud integration for easy access to user documents for both import and export purposes. For engineering and to-scale applications, real-world unit measurements in meters are available for holographic 3D models within the app” says Farrell in the press release....

With the latest update, Microsoft says it has handled one of the most common user requests. Specifically, Windows 10 20H1 testers now have control over when the platform restarts apps when a PC is restarted. Located in the Settings app, the “restart apps” option automatically saves which apps are restartable when a user signs in. “Windows now puts you in control with a new app restart setting. When turned on, Windows automatically saves your restartable apps when signing out, restarting, or shutting down Windows, and restarts them next time you sign in....