First look at the Office 2016 Preview for Windows

Hot on the heels of Office 2016 for Mac , Microsoft today released a preview of Office 2016 for the operating system that it actually earns money from. You know—Windows. In fairness, Windows isn’t in such desperate need for an updated Office. Office 2013 is fresher than Office 2011 was, and so it’s not altogether surprising that Office 2016 is to Office 2013 much the same as what Office 2013 was to Office 2010. This is a minor update with some small new features and a visual refresh. The preview is currently aimed at IT professionals and developers, and as such it requires an active Office 365 subscription. A consumer-oriented preview should be released later in the year, but it’s pretty clear that Microsoft wants people to subscribe to Office 365, and the company is going to continue to offer small perks for having a subscription. Last year’s Outlook for Mac update was similarly an Office 365-only benefit. Read 18 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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First look at the Office 2016 Preview for Windows

Windows 10 Enables Switching Between Desktop and Tablet Modes

jones_supa writes: In Windows 8, you were trapped in either the Modern UI or using the desktop, and going back and forth between the two worlds was cumbersome. Windows 10 takes a hybrid approach, allowing the user to choose between a classic desktop and a full-screen mobile experience. The feature, which has been developed under the name “Continuum, ” is now simply called “Tablet mode”. In the build 9926 of Windows 10 Technical Preview, switching between the modes can finally be tried out. The leaked build 10036 shows that eventually you will also have the option to automate the process for dockable devices. Since Windows 10 is being positioned as the one OS for all of Microsoft’s devices, being able to control the desktop and tablet experiences like this is critical to appeasing the consumer. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Windows 10 Enables Switching Between Desktop and Tablet Modes

BlackBerry’s Latest Experiment: a $2,300 ‘Secure’ Tablet

An anonymous reader writes: After missing the boat on smartphones, BlackBerry has been throwing everything they can at the wall to see what sticks. From making square phones to insisting users want physical keyboards, their only standard is how non-standard they’ve become. Now they’re expanding this strategy to the tablet market with a security-centric tablet that costs $2, 300. And they’re not doing it alone — the base device is actually a Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5. The tablet runs Samsung Knox boot tech, as well as software from IBM and encryption specialist Secusmart (which BlackBerry recently purchased). The device will be targeted at businesses and organizations who have particular need for secure devices. “Organizations deploying the SecuTablet will be able to set policies controlling what apps can run on the devices, and whether those apps must be wrapped, said IBM Germany spokesman Stefan Hefter. The wrapping process—in which an app is downloaded from a public app store, bundled with additional libraries that encrypt its network traffic and intercept Android ‘intents’ for actions such as cutting or pasting data, then uploaded to a private app store—ensures that corporate data can be protected at rest, in motion and in use, he said. For instance, it can prevent data from a secure email being copied and pasted into the Facebook app running on the same device—yet allow it to be pasted into a secure collaboration environment, or any other app forming part of the same ‘federation, ‘ he said.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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BlackBerry’s Latest Experiment: a $2,300 ‘Secure’ Tablet

120,000 Pounds of Cosmic Dust Floats Down From Space Every Day

NASA may be endlessly fascinated with microbial life on far-flung moons in our solar system or testing powerful rocket boosters that will propel humanity off its ancestral home, but there’s still tons we don’t know about our own planet—and cosmic dust is one of those mysteries. Read more…

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120,000 Pounds of Cosmic Dust Floats Down From Space Every Day

ToolWiz Time Freeze Protects Your PC’s State With a Password

Windows: Programs that “freeze” Windows are great for testing new software without risking your system or simply protecting a family member from infecting their computer. Each time you reboot, all the changes (including viruses) are erased. ToolWiz is another system restore utility, but this free program adds password protection. Read more…

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ToolWiz Time Freeze Protects Your PC’s State With a Password

Ultralight Convertibles Approaching Desktop Performance

MojoKid writes Laptops with fully articulating hinges are starting to show up from more vendors than just Lenovo, though the company certainly got some mileage out of their Yoga brand of machines. Now it appears HP is getting in on the action as well, with the new HP Spectre X360 that’s powered Intel’s new Core i5-5200U Broadwell-based processor with integrated Intel HD 5500 series graphics, along with 8GB of DDR3-1600 memory, a 256GB Solid State Drive (a Samsung M.2 PCIe SSD), 802.11ac WiFi, and a 13.3″ Full HD (1920×1080) multi-touch screen. The Spectre X360 has a geared and spring-assisted hinges. The hinges swing open easily, and then offer more resistance as the screen is moved into an upright position, or swung around into tent, stand, or tablet modes. What’s also interesting about this new breed of convertibles, beyond just its ability to contort into tablet mode and various other angles, is that performance for these ultralight platforms is scaling up nicely, with faster, low-power processors and M.2 PCIe Solid State Drives offering up a very responsive experience and under 10 second boot times. It has gotten to the point that 3 pound and under notebooks feel every bit as nimble as desktop machines, at least for mainstream productivity and media consumption usage models. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Ultralight Convertibles Approaching Desktop Performance

Feds Just Charged 3 Spammers With the Biggest Data Breach in History

The only thing that sucks more than spam are the greedy people who send it to you. That’s why the Department of Justice charging three spam kingpins responsible for one of the largest data breaches in history is so exciting. Finally, Feds are taking down the spam kingpins—or at least trying. Read more…

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Feds Just Charged 3 Spammers With the Biggest Data Breach in History

HP’s Spectre x360 Might Be The Best Transforming Laptop I’ve Ever Seen

Milled aluminum. All-day battery life. Intel Core i5 and i7 processors. A bitchin’ keyboard, and a large, clickable trackpad with excellent multitouch response. If you didn’t know any better, you’d think I was describing a MacBook Air . I’m not—I’m talking HP’s Spectre x360, a gorgeous premium convertible PC that starts at just $900. Read more…

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HP’s Spectre x360 Might Be The Best Transforming Laptop I’ve Ever Seen

AOMEI OneKey Recovery Creates a Custom Windows Recovery Partition

Windows: Most Windows computers these days have a recovery partition built in, but it contains all the crapware that came with your computer. If you’d like to create your own recovery partition, AOMEI adds that backup function to any PC. Read more…

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AOMEI OneKey Recovery Creates a Custom Windows Recovery Partition

Microsoft Finally Allows Customers To Legally Download Windows 7 ISOs

MojoKid writes: It’s long been a pet peeve of many end users that Microsoft has made it such a challenge to procure a legitimate ISO image of its various operating systems. It seems like the company should have no problem offering them in an easy-to-find spot on its website, because after all, it’s not like they can be taken utilized without a legal key. Sometimes, people simply lose the disc or ISO they had, and so it shouldn’t be such a challenge to get a replacement. Fortunately, with a new feature on the Microsoft site, you are now able to get that replacement Windows 7 ISO. However, it’s behind a bit of protection. You’ll need to provide your legal product code, and then the language, in order to go through to the download page. If you’ve somehow lost your key but are still using the OS that it’s tied to, you can retrieve it through a few different third party tools. However, it does seem like not all valid keys work properly just yet, since some users are reporting valid keys throwing errors or not enabling a download for some reason. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Microsoft Finally Allows Customers To Legally Download Windows 7 ISOs