Avast CEO on why it’s just spent $1.4BN to absorb security rival AVG

 Security firm Avast has today confirmed the completion of a $1.4 billion acquisition of fellow Czech-based antivirus company AVG. The deal will see Avast’s customer base nearly double — swelling from 230 million to more than 400 million in total, 160M of whom are mobile users. Read More

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Avast CEO on why it’s just spent $1.4BN to absorb security rival AVG

Google Rebrands ‘Apps for Work’ To ‘G Suite,’ Adds New Features

Google has renamed “Apps for Work” to “G Suite” to “help people everywhere work and innovate together, so businesses can move faster and go bigger.” They have also added a bunch of new features, such as a “Quick Access” section for Google Drive for Android that uses machine learning to predict what files you’re going to need when you open up the app, based off your previous behavior. Calendar will automatically pick times to set up meetings through the use of machine intelligence. Sheets is also using AI “to turn your layman English requests into formulas through its ‘Explore’ feature, ” reports The Next Web. “In Slides, Explore uses machine learning to dynamically suggest and apply design ideas, while in Docs, it will suggest backup research and images you can use in your musings, as well as help you insert files from your Drive account. Throughout Docs, Sheets, and Slides, you can now recover deleted files on Android from a new ‘Trash’ option in the side/hamburger menu.” Google’s cloud services will now fall under a new “Google Cloud” brand, which includes G Suite, Google Cloud Platform, new machine learning tools and APIs, and Google’s various devices that access the cloud. Slashdot reader wjcofkc adds: I just received the following email from Google. When I saw the title, my first thought was that there was malware lying at the end — further inspection proved it to be real. Is this the dumbest name change in the history of name changes? Google of all companies does not have to try so hard. “Hello Google Apps Customer, We created Google Apps to help people everywhere work and innovate together, so that your organization can move faster and achieve more. Today, we’re introducing a new name that better reflects this mission: G Suite. Over the coming weeks, you’ll see our new name and logo appear in familiar places, including the Admin console, Help Center, and on your invoice. G Suite is still the same all-in-one solution that you use every day, with the same powerful tools — Gmail, Docs, Drive, and Calendar. Thanks for being part of the journey that led us to G Suite. We’re always improving our technology so it learns and grows with your team. Visit our official blog post to learn more.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Google Rebrands ‘Apps for Work’ To ‘G Suite,’ Adds New Features

Women competitors must wear hijabs at chess world championship, oddly awarded to Iran

If you thought soccer’s world cup being awarded to baking-hot Qatar marked the zenith of sporting corruption, give FIDE a chance: the international chess federation’s forthcoming world championship is headed to Iran, and women players must wear the hijab to compete. UK tabloids quote leading women chess players as threatening to quit the tournament rather than obey. US women’s champion Nazi Paikidze said: ‘It is absolutely unacceptable to host one of the most important women’s tournaments in a venue where, to this day, women are forced to cover up with a hijab. ‘I understand and respect cultural differences. But, failing to comply can lead to imprisonment and women’s rights are being severely restricted in general. It does not feel safe for women from around the world to play here.’ She added: ‘If the situation remains unchanged, I will most certainly not participate in this event.’ It’s insane, but entirely in keeping with FIDE’s brainier-than-thou shiftiness, to think that Tehran is a good place to host the key event on their highly-politicized mind game’s calendar. For starters, there’s a current U.S. government travel warning telling citizens not to go there at all . (I would go, but wear a Burka)

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Women competitors must wear hijabs at chess world championship, oddly awarded to Iran

This Bluetooth N64 Controller Is Every 90s Kid’s Dream

There’s really nothing like playing a Nintendo 64 game with one of the classic controllers. The problem is that classic N64 controllers don’t hook up to phones, tablet, or laptops, which makes playing console emulators a real pain. Now, there’s finally some sweet relief for retro gaming fans. Read more…

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This Bluetooth N64 Controller Is Every 90s Kid’s Dream

Chinese real estate bubble is "biggest in history"

Wang Jianlin made billions speculating on Chinese real-estate; now that he’s diversified into buying Hollywood movie studios and chains of movie theaters, the richest man in China is prepared to say what many have known: the Chinese property market is a huge, deadly bubble that’s ripe to burst. (more…)

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Chinese real estate bubble is "biggest in history"

Spotify is in ‘advanced talks’ to buy SoundCloud

Those rumors that SoundCloud is shopping itself around ? They just got more substantial. Financial Times sources understand that Spotify is in “advanced talks” to buy SoundCloud. Details of the terms are still scarce at the moment, but it won’t surprise you to hear that Spotify is declining to comment. We’ve asked SoundCloud for its take as well. A buyout would be expensive for Spotify, which is seeing a surge of paying customers but still isn’t turning a profit . However, it would definitely make a sense from a strategic perspective. Spotify has been expanding to include more than just albums — this would give it a wider catalog of DJ sets, demos and other rough tracks. That, in turn, would give it leverage over Apple Music, Tidal and other services that try to lure you away with artist exclusives . You could listen to an in-development song and check out that artist’s commercially available music immediately afterward. And SoundCloud… well, it may not have much of a choice. Its paid SoundCloud Go service hasn’t exactly taken off, and it can’t really make money from those unofficial mashups and remixes. There’s no saying whether or not SoundCloud as you know it would survive under Spotify, but it would at least have a financial cushion. Source: Financial Times

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Spotify is in ‘advanced talks’ to buy SoundCloud

HP to issue “optional firmware update” allowing 3rd-party ink

An HP Officejet ink cartridge, just $26.99. (credit: HP ) HP Inc. today said it will restore the ability of certain OfficeJet printers to use third-party ink cartridges, after being criticized for issuing a firmware update that rejects non-HP ink. But HP is still defending its practice of preventing the use of non-HP ink and is making no promises about refraining from future software updates that force customers to use only official ink cartridges. HP made its announcement in a blog post titled ” Dedicated to the best printing experience .” Read 7 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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HP to issue “optional firmware update” allowing 3rd-party ink