IT & Security News

Spotting Fake Reviews And Dubious Ratings On Amazon

Spotting Fake Reviews And Dubious Ratings On Amazon

Following Amazon suing the admins of more than 10,000 Facebook groups over an alleged co-ordinated fake reviews campaign, we look at how to spot fake reviews and dubious ratings on Amazon.  Why Use Fake Reviews?  On the site of one of the world’s largest retailers and the top online marketplace, large numbers of positive reviews…

Playing Video Games For Long Periods Isn’t Bad For You

Playing Video Games For Long Periods Isn’t Bad For You

A new Oxford University study involving 38,935 video-game players overs six weeks has concluded that there is little to no evidence for a causal connection between game play and well-being.  Why Do We Believe Spending Time Playing Video / Online Games Is Bad For Us?  A combination of previous research, social judgements, anecdotal evidence, online…

1976 Apple Expected to Fetch $500,000

1976 Apple Expected to Fetch $500,000

A 1976 Apple-1 prototype, believed to have been owned by Steve Jobs and hand-soldered by Steve Wozniak is being auctioned and is expected to fetch around $500,000.  At $400,000+ Already!  The prototype is essentially a broken circuit board with a crack in it but at the time writing this, after 19 bids and with the…

Chrome Cookie Removal - Delayed

Chrome Cookie Removal – Delayed

Google has announced that due to the need for more time to evaluate alternatives, it is delaying (by nine months) its plans to rid Chrome of third-party tracking cookies.  Third-Party Cookies  A cookie is a piece of code (used for tracking) that takes the form of a small text file that is stored on the…

Where Do People Get Their News From?

Where Do People Get Their News From?

With young people now unlikely to read newspapers or watch the TV news, and following the latest Ofcom report, we look at which channels people get their news from.  Decline of Printed Newspapers  Newspaper readership has been declining for many years but the drop in readership during the pandemic years has been much more pronounced,…

How Many People Are Homeworking Now?

How Many People Are Homeworking Now?

With an ONS survey showing that from October to December 2019 and January to March 2022, homeworking in the UK more than doubled from 4.7 million to 9.9 million people, we take a closer look at the figures and what’s behind them.  COVID 19 Pandemic Triggered Huge Rise In Homeworking  With the UK government first…

Google Sacks Engineer Who Said AI Chatbot Was Sentient

Google Sacks Engineer Who Said AI Chatbot Was Sentient

Google has sacked senior software engineer Blake Lemoine, who made the news after saying that Google’s LaMDA chatbot’s responses to questions showed that it was a sentient being.  What Happened?  Back in June, Google engineer Blake Lemoine reported that the Language Model for Dialogue Applications (LaMDA ) AI system bot may have feelings and was…

Windows Overflow Added To Taskbar

Windows Overflow Added To Taskbar

For those who have so many apps open that they run out of space on the taskbar, Microsoft is adding an overflow button where the excess ones can be accessed.  Overflow – Button With Three Dots   For those who need it (i.e. those who are in the habit of having many apps open at once),…

Hot Weather & Hardware

Hot Weather & Hardware

In this tech-insight, we look how extreme heat can affect IT hardware and what measures you can take to keep the equipment cool and prevent damage.  High Temperatures  Hot weather UK-style is not normally a problem. With an average temperature here of about 14 °C, temperatures over 30 °C are a fairly rare occurrence – although becoming more…

Avoid Eyestrain

Avoid Eyestrain

In this article, we look at what eyestrain is, what causes it, and the many measures you can take to prevent it.  What Is Eyestrain?  Eyestrain is eye fatigue, caused by intensely focusing the eyes during a task, such as staring at a computer screen (or phone screen) for extended periods, driving, reading, or engaging…

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