Maloo.co.uk http://maloo.co.uk office 365 \ osx \ linux \ Tech news \ blog Mon, 30 Sep 2019 10:08:44 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.3.17 120530530 How to Create Battery Report in Windows 10 http://maloo.co.uk/2019/09/30/how-to-create-battery-report-in-windows-10/ http://maloo.co.uk/2019/09/30/how-to-create-battery-report-in-windows-10/#respond Mon, 30 Sep 2019 10:08:44 +0000 http://maloo.co.uk/?p=92 If you’ve used a Windows 10 PC, you’d know that the platform does not necessarily share a lot of info on the battery of the device or its performance. This is a shame, considering there are times when you want to know how well the battery on your device is doing. Sure, Windows shows you the estimated time remaining in the system tray but that’s about it. Maybe you’ve just bought a shiny new Windows laptop and you want to know how well the battery is holding up. Thankfully, there is a way in Windows 10 to get details on the device’s battery. And in this article we are going to show you how you can get battery report in Windows 10 PC.

  1. Open your Windows 10 laptop and hit “Windows+X” keyboard shortcut. From the menu, select “Windows PowerShell (Admin)” option to open it. Windows will ask your permission to open the app. Grant it by clicking on the “Yes” button.

  2. In the Windows PowerShell window, paste the command command given below and press Enter to run the command.

    powercfg /batteryreport /output “C:\battery-report.html”


  3. When you run the command, you’ll get a message saying “Battery life report saved to file path C:\battery-report.html.

  4. Now open Windows Explorer and open the C drive on your system. Here, you will find the battery-report.html file. Just double click on it and open it in a browser of your choice.

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GoPro cuts jobs and closes its entertainment division http://maloo.co.uk/2016/12/01/gopro-cuts-jobs-and-closes-its-entertainment-division/ http://maloo.co.uk/2016/12/01/gopro-cuts-jobs-and-closes-its-entertainment-division/#comments Thu, 01 Dec 2016 22:02:06 +0000 http://maloo.co.uk/?p=88

GoPro has been facing tough times lately, and that’s unfortunately translating to layoffs. The action camera maker is cutting 15 percent of its workforce as part of a restructuring move, including both 200 existing positions and the cancellation of yet-to-be-filled job openings. The reorganization will also lead to the closure of GoPro’s entertainment division — the company’s dreams of becoming a media empire will have to wait.

Company President and former Skype CEO Tony Bates is also out by the end of the year, although it’s not clear whether this is due to GoPro’s overall performance or other reasons.

The job cuts are deemed necessary to help meet GoPro’s goal of returning to profit in 2017. It’s not clear if the Karma drone recall prompted the cuts, but they certainly didn’t help — between that and camera production problems, the company just hasn’t been selling as much hardware as it would like. There is some light on the horizon, though. GoPro notes that its Black Friday sales (helped by discounts and bundles) were up about 35 percent year over year in the US, and direct online sales were up 33 percent between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday (November 28th). GoPro has increased demand for the Hero5 series and other cameras — the big challenges may be to keep up with that interest and sustain it over the long term.

Source: GoPro cuts jobs and closes its entertainment division

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Fitbit is reportedly buying Pebble http://maloo.co.uk/2016/12/01/fitbit-is-reportedly-buying-pebble/ http://maloo.co.uk/2016/12/01/fitbit-is-reportedly-buying-pebble/#respond Thu, 01 Dec 2016 20:58:19 +0000 http://maloo.co.uk/?p=85

Pebble might only live on in our memories and Fitbit’s devices in the future. According to The Information, Fitbit is buying smartwatch maker Pebble for an undisclosed amount. An anonymous source indicates to Engadget that Fitbit is buying the indie smartwatch maker for only $34 to $40 million — barely enough to cover its debts to suppliers, which amount to at least $25 million. Pebble has apparently been looking to sell for quite a while now due to financial issues. If you’ll recall, the indie smartwatch company laid off 25 percent of its workforce back in March this year because money was “pretty tight.”

Our source also told us that Pebble has had better offers in the past. Citizen reportedly offered to buy up Pebble for $740 million in 2015, but the company refused. After Pebble Time Round’s poor performance on the market, Intel offered to acquire the smaller company for $70 million if it would agree to hold off on launching the Pebble 2 and Pebble Time 2 Kickstarter campaign. Unfortunately, the company refused that offer, as well despite key execs’ threats to leave.

So, what will happen to Pebble’s devices? The Information says they’ll be phased out after the acquisition, because Fitbit is buying the company to get access to its technologies and intellectual properties, including its operating system. Since the newest device out of Pebble’s HQ is more of a fitness tracker than a smartwatch, it doesn’t seem so odd that a company famous for fitness wearables would be interested in snapping it up. We’ve reached out to both companies for confirmation and will update this post when we hear back.

Source: Fitbit is reportedly buying Pebble

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Office 365 Tips #3 How to find Bcc and turn it on http://maloo.co.uk/2016/12/01/office-365-tips-3-how-to-find-bcc-and-turn-it-on/ http://maloo.co.uk/2016/12/01/office-365-tips-3-how-to-find-bcc-and-turn-it-on/#respond Thu, 01 Dec 2016 20:36:16 +0000 http://maloo.co.uk/?p=83

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App installing malware found in over 1 million Android phones http://maloo.co.uk/2016/11/30/app-installing-malware-found-in-over-1-million-android-phones/ http://maloo.co.uk/2016/11/30/app-installing-malware-found-in-over-1-million-android-phones/#respond Wed, 30 Nov 2016 23:41:52 +0000 http://maloo.co.uk/?p=79 A new malware campaign has been discovered in over 1 million Android devices, according to a new report from the security firm Check Point. Dubbed “Googlian” by the firm, the campaign first emerged in August, and is currently compromising devices at a rate of roughly 13,000 per day.

The malware targets vulnerabilities in Android versions 4 and 5 (Jelly Bean, Kit Kat, and Marshmallow), and spreads through seemingly legitimate apps in third-party app stores. More than half the infections are in Asia, where third-party app stores are particularly popular.

A full list of infected apps is included at the bottom of Check Point’s report, which ranges from simple games like “Slots Mania” to a more suspicious app called “Sex Photo.”

The malware takes advantage of two known vulnerabilities in the Linux kernel, allowing it to take control of a user’s device once a malicious app has been installed. From there, the malware compromises the device’s Google authorization token, giving it broader access to the user’s Google account including Gmail, Drive, and Photos.

According to Google, the malware isn’t accessing any personal emails or files. When the Android Security team scanned the affected accounts, it found no evidence of the malware accessing data or otherwise using the token for fraud. There was also no evidence of the malware targeting any particular people or organizations.

Instead, the malware authors seem to be using their powers to game the Google Play app rankings. Instead of downloading inboxes or Drive accounts, the malware installs non-malicious apps from the Google Play Store, leaving five-star rankings for each app. With over a million devices in on the scheme, the result is a huge boost in the Play Store rankings for the targeted app, potentially worth far more than a stolen credit card.

It’s not the first time online criminals have used malware to boost an app’s ranking. Last year, a family of apps called Brain Test tried a similar tactic, only to be removed by Google after the scheme was made public. Google actively scans for potentially harmful apps in the Play Store, but since the apps being boosted aren’t malicious, they’re able to evade the scans.

You can check if your device has been infected by using a tool built by Check Point. If there’s evidence of an infection, reinstalling the system software will completely remove it.

Typically, malware campaigns can be stopped by a quickly deployed software fix — but in Googlian’s case, that fix has already been sent out. The two exploited vulnerabilities date back to 2014 and 2013, respectively, and both have already been patched by Google. Any devices running a version of Android released in the past year are already protected. Unfortunately, because of Android’s fragmented ecosystem, that only covers a quarter of Android devices overall, leaving the vast majority of devices vulnerable to the attack.

Source: App-installing malware found in over 1 million Android phones

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The Samsung Galaxy S8 could give you super-sharp selfies – Pocket-lint http://maloo.co.uk/2016/11/30/the-samsung-galaxy-s8-could-give-you-super-sharp-selfies-pocket-lint/ http://maloo.co.uk/2016/11/30/the-samsung-galaxy-s8-could-give-you-super-sharp-selfies-pocket-lint/#respond Wed, 30 Nov 2016 22:18:09 +0000 http://maloo.co.uk/?p=76 Korean news publication ET News has cited sources as saying the Samsung Galaxy S8 will come with an auto-focusing front-facing camera. If true, it would be your selfies would be much sharper and clearer than before.

The majority of smartphones use fixed-focus lenses for the front camera, mainly because they’re small and it’s not seen as much of a requirement to have auto-focus. But now we’re really becoming a selfie generation, Samsung may have thought it’s high-time something was done to try and make our mugs look better (in pictures at least).

The technology could benefit group selfies too, and would help keep everyone in focus when using something like a selfie-stick, where you have little control over what the camera does.

Samsung is said to be testing autofocus actuators, which claim to have little effect on the camera’s size, so it shouldn’t protrude out the front, but it could have an increased effect on the price of the phone.

If the Samsung Galaxy S8 does arrive with autofocus on the front camera, it will join the Sony Xperia M5 and HTC Desire Eye, both of which already use similar technology. The Galaxy S8 is expected to be unveiled at or around Mobile World Congress in February 2017.

Source: The Samsung Galaxy S8 could give you super-sharp selfies – Pocket-lint

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OSX Tips #001 Automatically hide and show the menu bar http://maloo.co.uk/2016/11/30/osx-tips-001-automatically-hide-and-show-ther-menu-bar/ http://maloo.co.uk/2016/11/30/osx-tips-001-automatically-hide-and-show-ther-menu-bar/#respond Wed, 30 Nov 2016 20:42:45 +0000 http://maloo.co.uk/?p=73

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Amazon Said to Plan Premium Alexa Speaker With Large Screen http://maloo.co.uk/2016/11/29/amazon-said-to-plan-premium-alexa-speaker-with-large-screen/ http://maloo.co.uk/2016/11/29/amazon-said-to-plan-premium-alexa-speaker-with-large-screen/#respond Tue, 29 Nov 2016 20:57:26 +0000 http://maloo.co.uk/?p=68 Amazon.com Inc. is developing a premium Echo-like speaker with a screen, a sign the world’s largest online retailer is trying to capitalize on the surprise success of its voice-controlled home gadgets and fend off competition from Google and Apple Inc.

The new device will have a touchscreen measuring about seven inches, a major departure from Amazon’s existing cylindrical home devices that are controlled and respond mostly through the company’s voice-based Alexa digital assistant, according to two people familiar with the matter. This will make it easier to access content such as weather forecasts, calendar appointments, and news, the people said. They asked not to be identified speaking about a product that has yet to be announced.

The latest Amazon speaker will be larger and tilt upwards so the screen can be seen when it sits on a counter and the user is standing, one of the people said.

High-grade speakers will make the gadget sound much better than current Echo devices, this person also said. Amazon’s new device is scheduled to be announced as soon as the first quarter of 2017, this person added. Amazon, based in Seattle, Washington, declined to comment.So-called smart home gadgets are one of the latest computing battlefields fought over by the largest technology companies. However, they have so far failed to match the popularity of smartphones and personal computers. Amazon’s hardware track record has been mixed too, with the disappointing launch of the Fire Phone in 2014.

Its Echo speakers have been a surprise hit though, with Consumer Intelligence Research Partners estimating U.S. sales of more than 5 million units since 2014. Amazon’s planned expansion of the Alexa-powered line coincides with growing competition from Alphabet Inc.’s Google Home speaker and Apple Inc.’s interest in building a home device using its Siri digital assistant.

The new Amazon device will use an optimized version of Fire OS, the software that runs Amazon’s Fire tablets and Fire TV set-top box. The gadget will still respond to verbal commands and spoken questions, just like current Alexa devices. Amazon is also testing a feature that allows users to pin items such as photos on their speaker’s screen akin to physically placing items on a refrigerator door, one of the people said.Amazon plans to keep selling the Dot, Tap and Echo speakers that are typically stationed in living rooms and bedrooms, one of the people said. The current speakers cost $50, $130 and $180, respectively, while the model with a screen will likely be priced higher, the other person said.Some reviewers panned the current Echo for poor audio quality, which is partly due to Amazon designing it to sound better at moderate volume levels, according to one of the people. The new speaker will play high-quality audio at all volume levels, this person said. At least one prototype version of the device places the speakers below and behind the screen, they added.The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this year that Amazon’s Lab126 hardware unit was working on an Alexa-powered device featuring a tablet-like computer screen known internally as “Knight.”

Source: Amazon Said to Plan Premium Alexa Speaker With Large Screen

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Jolla’s Sailfish OS now certified as Russian government’s first ‘Android alternative’ | TechCrunch http://maloo.co.uk/2016/11/29/jollas-sailfish-os-now-certified-as-russian-governments-first-android-alternative-techcrunch/ http://maloo.co.uk/2016/11/29/jollas-sailfish-os-now-certified-as-russian-governments-first-android-alternative-techcrunch/#respond Tue, 29 Nov 2016 13:07:18 +0000 http://maloo.co.uk/?p=64 The future for one of the few remaining alternative mobile OS platforms, Jolla’s Sailfish OS, looks to be taking clearer shape. Today the Finnish company which develops and maintains the core code, with the aim of licensing it to others, announced Sailfish has achieved domestic certification in Russia for government and corporate use.

In recent years the Russian government has made moves to encourage the development of alternatives to the duopoly of US-dominated smartphone platforms, Android and Apple’s iOS — flagging Sailfish as one possibility, along with Tizen. Although Sailfish looks to have won out as the preferred Android alternative for Russia at this point.

The government has said it wants to radically reduce its reliance on foreign mobile OSes — to 50 per cent by 2025 vs the 95 per cent of the market garnered by Android and iOS in 2015.

Sailfish’s local certification in Russia also follows an announcement earlier this year that a new Russian company, Open Mobile Platform (OMP), had licensed the OS with the intention of developing a custom version of the platform for use in the domestic market. So, in other words, a Russian, strategic ‘Android alternative’ is currently being built on Sailfish.

Commenting in a statement, Pavel Eyges, CEO of OMP said: “We believe that open source based and independent Sailfish OS is the mobile OS platform of the future. It has great potential in Russia and elsewhere. Sailfish OS RUS is based on principles of participation and partnership, and we are actively recruiting partners and developer community members to take the initiative to new heights in Russia.”

Unlike some alternative OSes Sailfish benefits from compatibility with Android applications — giving it a relative leg up on access to apps vs other (faltered) efforts, such as Mozilla’s Firefox OS, although Tizen also has some workarounds for accessing some Android apps.

Jolla confirmed to TechCrunch its investor-base does include shareholders in its Russian licensing customer OMP, so the startup’s financing — which ran into trouble a year ago when it failed to close a Series C in time (before recovering and going on to close a $12M round in May) — is evidently now very tightly tied to this shift in b2b strategy.

A shift that is now de-emphasizing licensing to customers intending to sell Sailfish-powered devices to consumers, such as India’s Intex (always a high bar given how dominant Android remains with smartphone users globally); and emphasizing licensing customers intending to sell devices to corporates and governments (who may have more immediate/specialize data-security and government service integration needs, for example).

Jolla says Sailfish was also recently added to the Unified Register of Russian Software for Computers and Databases — as a mobile OS platform approved for use in governmental and government controlled corporations’ upcoming mobile device projects.

Chairman Antti Saarnio tells TechCrunch the certification process in Russia has been in train for close to one and a half years, with work beginning in Spring 2015. “It has been a very long, extensive project where we have been very much also focusing,” he says. “It started with the IT Ministry of Russia long-listed available alternative mobile operating systems. They ended up doing a technical analysis of two OSes: one was Tizen, the other was us, Sailfish  OS.

“After a couple of months very thorough technical evaluation they selected our OS for further collaboration. What we then started was a joint R&D project with a local Russian organization to build an OS version of Sailfish into Russia so that government will have an independent OS but it’s supported by our overall code base.”

“The Russian government has a list of software which can be seen as a national software and which are audited and certified, and in this list of software, our software is the only mobile OS software — currently,” he adds.

Saarnio emphasizes that the Russian version of the OS will not be a fork of Sailfish. Rather the model is for Jolla to work with its licensing partners to develop custom versions that suit their particular needs, while it maintains the core code base that will remain tied to all versions.

Nor is the aim to relocate Jolla to Russia to become the core alternative OS provider for just one non-US country; Jolla says it’s hoping to repeat this process elsewhere, in other BRICs nations, from its HQ in Finland.

“Our role is to provide the operating system and keep it compatible for different operations… and make it efficient,” says Jolla CEO and co-founder Sami Pienimäki.

“Essentially we maintain the open source and the open Sailfish, and keep releasing it and we always produce the latest release [to our licensing customers]. So our responsibility and role here is to make sure there is no forking of Sailfish here — but it happens exactly in collaboration together with our licensing customers. And this is the model that we believe that we can successfully also establish to other markets,” he adds.

“What we now have is basically an actual country case where we have implemented an independent mobile operating system solution which is using our code base and which is part of our release approaches, and our understanding is that this is the only implementation existing in the world at the moment,” continues Saarnio.

“In the situation where out of all the countries in the world I would say the big part of them are looking for an independent solution. And ways to implement it… Whether it’s Russia or any other country now we have a solution how to implement that… We want to have new customers, new countries and replicate the model we have now done already in Russia.

“Imagine that some country is thinking that we need an own mobile OS in order to control our data — and they’ve been investing already in own private cloud and so on — direct question arises ‘ok, what is the timeline we can have this, and what is the estimated cost of investments?’. Those are very difficult questions normally but now we can show that in six months we can do this. We have actual implementation in one country and there’s a budget for this. So it’s a very concrete decision for the countries after this pilot.”

Back in February 2015 the Russian Federation’s Minister of Communications and Mass Communications, Nikolai Nikiforov, made public remarks calling for the “de-monopolization of the global IT ecosystem” — initially aimed at encouraging local developers to support both Samsung’s Tizen platform and Jolla’s Sailfish via grants for porting apps to the platforms.

In further comments in May last year Nikiforov described Sailfish as “almost an international company”, noting that its shareholders include Finns, Russian and Chinese investors.

“We think it’s necessary to develop alternatives to closed or closing mobile platforms based on open operating systems. We are ready to support such initiatives and we think that our partners from BRICS will also join us,” he added at the time. “We hope that strategic Indian, Brazilian and South African investors will also join Sailfish soon.”

The regional closeness of Finland to Russia likely also played a part in Sailfish beating Tizen to the punch for the Russian government’s affections.

“Sailfish is independent and open offering, not controlled by large corporates, and thus optimal for local collaboration and customisation,” says Pienimäki, responding to a question about why Sailfish has prevailed.

The customization for OMP’s Russian version of Sailfish will include bringing in additional security features to the platform. The Sailfish platform already supports Russian so language localization is not necessary. “We are working… on security extensions,” says Pienimäki. “And making security enablers for the operating system that they can then further use to harden the OS for their customer needs.”

Jolla previously announced an intention to partner with others to create a security-hardened version of Sailfish. Pienimäki says the work with OMP is an implementation of that plan.

“We make it possible, we make enablers in the OS, we provide source code, transparency, licensing model and the one who typically implements the actual final solution is a local player who can apply with the local legislation and algorithms and such,” he says. “And also combine local technology — as we can understand in many countries such solutions are preferred to be based on local technologies.”

The timeframe for any Sailfish-powered devices to arrive in the Russian market is not yet firmed up but Pienimäki suggests it could well happen in 2017. The process will start with pilot projects in government-controlled corporations, he adds.

And while Saarnio says he remains confident that, over the longer term, consumers will also come around to seeking a privacy-focused alternative to Android, for now he concedes there is no mass market for Sailfish — and confirms there are currently no plans for Intex to do another Sailfish device — hence Jolla’s pivot of focus to b2b2b and b2b2g licensing partnerships.

The company is also in talks with the Chinese and South African governments, at this point.

“China is a more complex country to negotiate than Russia,” adds Saarnio. “But let’s say that this Russian example is giving already very, very concrete project proposal for China — and China clearly needs this kind of solution.

“We are also talking in other BRICs countries. Also continue with South Africa discussions and negotiations. But of course as a company we don’t have a political agenda here — so we are happy to and very interested to discuss any country who has an agenda or need for independent OS.”

On the funding front, he says Jolla is working on raising its next funding round but says its new business model focus has helped reduced its capital needs too.

“Since we have changed out business model to more corporate licensing customers we have also got additional cash-flow… the company it not that equity heavy at all any more,” he adds. “But we of course need additional equity and we are working on that as well as getting new licensing customers and hoping that we are still turning to cash-flow positive with these new customers.”

While Jolla describes Sailfish as ‘open source’ certain elements of the platform do remain propriety closed source. It does still intend to open source as much of these closed components as it can — but says a lack of resources continues to slow that process down.

“We are working on that,” says Pienimäki. “We are currently looking for a step-wise model that we would be opening further in the application and the UI layer. We will share that plan in more concrete detail once we have it more fully available to be implemented. But that’s something we remain committed to.

“As you can maybe see also from this collaboration model together with our licensing customers they also prefer a very much open source, collaboration type of a model in combination with the licence.”

“Open sourcing is actually an investment from our side,” adds Saarnio. “It doesn’t happen in that way that we just simply open source the code and then think that everybody’s happy. We have to build support processes for this so that the community can actually make something meaningful out of the open source code.

“And it’s not a small investment from our kind of a company… But we are committed on proceeding on the same path… But it has to be a carefully managed process — otherwise you don’t get any contributions.”

 

 

Source: Jolla’s Sailfish OS now certified as Russian government’s first ‘Android alternative’ | TechCrunch

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Office 365 Tips #2 Create an Email Signature in Office 365 http://maloo.co.uk/2016/11/29/office-365-tips-2-create-an-email-signature-in-office-365/ http://maloo.co.uk/2016/11/29/office-365-tips-2-create-an-email-signature-in-office-365/#respond Tue, 29 Nov 2016 01:59:55 +0000 http://maloo.co.uk/?p=60

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