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Google has been working on alternative Mechanisms to the regular Password, and just recently, it launched Titan keys, the phishing-resistant two-factor authentication devices that help protect high-value customers from the most sophisticated cyberattacks.

While the user experience for the Titan keys is rather not pretty convenience, and since you have to connect a physical key to your device, the downside remains the fact that you'll need to carry the physical key, which is liable to get lost, and in such situation can get you locked out from your online activities. Albeit, Google assured that there are backups with an extra key that can help you gain access to your account, but the recovery process can take days or even weeks.

Now, the company has also made it possible for Android users to turn their gadgets into a physical security key, which feature requires devices running Android OS version 7+ with Bluetooth and location services fully enabled.

The setup process isn’t any different from that of a regular security key, as you’ll still need to have a replacement second or third key in case your phone get lost or destroyed. So you’ll be able to gain access into your account, as the new feature works for both G Suite enterprise customers and personal Google accounts.

To set up the physical security key using your Android phone (it requires Android 7+), simply switch on the Bluetooth and connect it to your computer, then open Chrome browser on your computer and sign into your Google account. Go to https://myaccount.google.com/security and select two-step verification - on the menu choose add a security key and select phone. That's it!

However, the service is currently available for Google accounts only, and there is no timeline when Google will expand it to cover other online accounts. But you can still avail yourself the use of the Google Authenticator app with 2-step verification for services like Facebook and WordPress security.

It is also expected that Google will integrate it into other browsers, even as it has enabled support for signing into its own service using the Titan security keys on Microsoft Edge and Firefox.

How to set up a physical Security Key using your Android Smartphone



Mozilla Fenix is a new browser currently in the works based on GeckoView, which has been marked as a possible replacement for Firefox mobile browser in both Android and iOS platforms.

While Mozilla had outlined its plan for replacing Firefox (also known as 'Fennec' in its document), Firefox 67 and 68 for Android slated for May 14 and July 9 release, respectively, will continue to receive security patches, with Firefox version 68.1 coming on September 3, and followed by version 68.2 October 22, according to the document.

Mozilla had to divert resources meant for Fenix development to fix bugs in the current Firefox version, with the Android browser upgrade pegged on version 68 to help accelerate Fenix development, but also, it means no new features will be arriving to Firefox for Android.

The current Firefox for Android browser End-Of-Life cycle will be sometime next year, after which Fenix will be replacing it. Albeit, it runs a completely different architecture, Gecko Quantum from Mozilla, the only alternative browser engine available now, outside Chromium.

Mozilla has once again holds its own, when all other browser vendors, including Microsoft have opted for Chromium and it has assured on speed and performance as with Quantum Firefox, more smarter memory management and nifty new capabilities.

Early preview of Fenix, shows that it changes tabbed-browsing significantly, even as all the major mobile browsers support tabbed-browsing. Fenix is akin to desktop browsers tabs, though users are allowed to open multiple tabs and tabs are retained across different browsing sessions.

The idea of changing tab management in Fenix is quite interesting, with such benefits as using less RAM as other browsers on mobile devices since tabs are kept open only during browsing but not across all sessions.

Mozilla, however did not say when Fenix will make debut in the document, but certainly when Fenix is ready, users of the legacy version of Firefox for Android will be migrated to the new mobile browser.

Mozilla Fenix: The upcoming mobile browser to replace Firefox for Android



Google's browser, Chrome has reached its peak in popularity, dwarfing even the closest rival, while sitting comfortably with two-third of the browser user share worldwide according web analytics vendor, Net Application.

Chrome browser latest release is a big deal, so also each upgrade as every web user is poised to know what's in the latest Chrome release, which equally holds true for Google's plan for the browser in the future.

Google has made available a set of release notes highlighting some of the upcoming feature additions to the browser, as well as substitutions, which enhancements and modifications are definitely planned for future release. Since the browser's future are already in profile, we've made it easier by collating the most important of these latest releases in Chrome's upcoming category tagged, Coming soon.

However, it is pertinent to note that, "they might be changed, delayed, or canceled before launching to the Stable channel" as Google had themselves pointed out.

Chrome 75/76 brings Better Privacy and Security with Incognito Mode & Site isolation



Google is looking to change the ways of restricting websites from collecting users data as they surf the Web, with a new implementation of Filesystem API flag to thwart crafty sites from tracking a user in incognito mode.

The Filesystem API flag in Chrome 75 will disallow sites from discovering contents a user is browsing in incognito mode, however it isn't enabled by default, you'll need to enable it for your track to be untraceable.

While Site Isolation is technological defense system that separate pages from sites into different processes. With each process running in a "sandbox" and restricted from one another, as part of effort to isolate malware infested contents from the browser from affecting the device.

Though, it was first unveiled in Chrome 63, then isolation was enabled in stages for virtually all users and managed devices were able to opt-out. But with Chrome 75, Google will remove the ability to opt out of site isolation on desktop using the IsolateOrigins or SitePerProcess policies.

Finally, Google will be disabling Flash by default, starting with Chrome 76. While individual users will still be able to switch back to a default "Ask to use Flash" in settings (until support will be halted from the Chromium project in December 2020), and enterprise users can control Flash usage by employees via the DefaultPluginsSetting, PluginsAllowedForUrls and PluginsBlockedForUrls policies.

Chrome latest release: What's coming in the Future versions of the browser?



The navigation applications, iTrack and Protrack GPS tracking system usually come with the default password ‘123456‘ which most users don’t bother to change, and coupled with some inbuilt functions, allowing hackers to remotely kill automobile engines with just a flick of a button.

While the proof-of-concept exploit released by a group known as L&M involve only the weak default passwords and the inbuilt function integrated by the developers.

The group got access to the username, phone number, e-mail and other personal information, which as confirmed by the manufacturer of the hardware, the automobile engines can be switched off remotely using the GPS.

How Automobile Engine can be Remotely Controlled using iTrack and Protrack GPS system



According to L&M, they created an opportunity window waiting to be exploited, and tested both of the navigation apps using the default password ‘123456’ to see if there's any security changes made in the hardware. And there was no forewarning to inform the user that the password is weak and can easily be exploited in the iTrack app, but the ProTrack App was immediately able to inform user that the password is weak and therefore, the security was at risk.

The hacking group were able to replicate this exploit in several countries like South Africa, India, and Philippines, among others. Though the car GPS hack has actually been possible since 2015 with the instances of digital hacking of cars first reported, but the trend is expected to rise in 2019.

Albeit, the ProTrack and iTrack hardware makers, iTryBand Technology and SEEWORLD respectively, which are both based in China, are believed to have bundled the possibility of turning off car’s engine as an inbuilt function in the hardware themselves.

iTrack and Protrack navigation apps can be exploited to kill the automobile engine



Running a small business isn’t an easy task by any means. You have a lot of different pieces of the puzzle to juggle at once, so how do you make sure you have the right tools at your disposal to make the process a bit smoother? While in the past, managing your finances might have been limited to your pen and pencil, today the options are endless.

Not all businesses will need the same tools. Like most parts of running a small business, you need to decide on your goals and how your tools will help you reach the target. From managing your invoices to keeping up with marketing strategies, this tool stack will grow with your company.

  1. Freshbooks for Invoicing: When it comes to keeping track of your business finances, you want to keep everything in one place. While many small businesses make the mistake of thinking they have to continuously fight for payment, it’s actually possible to optimize your invoicing so the money comes automatically. Not all businesses have a full-time team of accountants on their side to make sure the money flows smoothly and on time.

    Think of Freshbooks as your all-in-one invoicing and accounting solutions. It’s easy to use, secure, and it helps you optimize the money side of your small business without the hassle. With automated invoicing, scheduling, and more, you don’t have to worry about tracking down your paying clients anymore.


  2. Market Your Business with Infusionsoft: It’s hard to find an all-in-one marketing solution today. Most marketing software does one type of marketing or automates a single line of your sales funnels. Infusionsoft does it all and more. It can track up to 10,000 contacts for you so you never lose a lead again. It also has comprehensive, smart email campaign builders so you can target the right customers at the right time.

    One of the biggest challenges with Infusionsoft, if you can call it a challenge, is that it does have a learning curve. You’ll need to enroll in a training program when you first get started so you can make sure you’re familiar with all of its features. However, depending on your needs, it might be worth the extra effort.


  3. Google Drive for Collaboration: We all know how great Google Drive is for daily tasks, but have you tried using it for your small business? It’s an affordable solution for businesses, and it’s fully customizable. Use only what you need, from spreadsheets to slideshow presentations. Google Drive is also great for teams that are always on the go or business owners who like to work from home.

    You can’t beat how collaborative and easy to use Google Drive is. There’s virtually no learning curve, it’s easy to use in any browser, and you can even download the mobile app of your favorite extensions. Cloud storage is undoubtedly the future, so what are you waiting for?


  4. Salesforce for Boosting Your Revenue: Salesforce is a program that helps you sell more with less effort. It’s all about working smarter, not harder, and that’s something all business owners could use. With this CRM software, your leads are all in one easy dashboard. See the details of your latest sales, track your calls, and plan your meetings with ease.

    Because you don’t have to spend as much time on busy work like data entry, you’re able to focus on more important areas of your business. Salesforce does the automation for you, and you can easily allocate work to the right member of your team. Finally, there’s software that will grow with you and help you better meet customer needs.


  5. Solarwinds for IT Infrastructure Security: Your directories need to be monitored at all times to keep your company’s data secure. Only when you have the overview of your team’s access rights to your IT infrastructure. Also, access rights don’t have to be hard to audit and report on.

    With the SolarWinds access rights manager, you never have to worry about your monitoring suspicious account activity and creating custom permission reports. Automate access rights management, analysis, and enforcement through identification of insecure accounts while providing audit trails. It helps to enhance productivity by reducing IT workload through self-service portal and delegation of access rights management to data owners. Managing access rights is one part of a successful app management structure. To learn more, check out this great article from Stackify on 10 APM Features.
  6. Monday for Project Management: You already have enough on your plate. It’s hard to keep deadlines, important details, and meetings under control when you’re already doing so much. Monday is a new way to manage your work all in one place. With the visual dashboard, you can keep all of your client or customer projects in a single place.

    Monday also has messaging features for keeping your comments and questions within your projects. Say goodbye to endlessly going back and forth in emails and meetings. Now, you never have to second guess where your valuable information is stored. Monday is the closest you’ll get to finding more time in the day for the things that matter most in your business.


As a small business owner, you should take your choice of software seriously. As the right software will make your day easier, while the wrong ones will get in the way and add up to the complexity. The above tools cover all aspects of running a small business without breaking the bank.

However you choose to optimize your business in 2019, you'll need to find time to do more with these options. In this day and age, you sure need all the tools you can get to take your business farther.

Top 6 Productivity Tool Stack for Small & Medium Businesses in 2019



Kodi, the free open-source media software that's capable of running on virtually all the platforms, including iOS, Android, Windows, macOS and Linux, has hit version 18.2 bringing with it improvements and bug fixes, especially for the Android app.

While Kodi is an excellent way to access media content across all devices, with compatibility for numerous video and music formats, and offering a handy picture gallery, Kodi 18.2 includes new codec factory for Android which can be used to configure HW-Decoder usage systematically, into both human-readable and XML format.

The XBMC-owned media player had an early release of the Kodi 18.2 RC (Release Candidate) last week, and now the stable version of the latest Kodi update is available for download.

Kodi 18.2 major bug fixes comprises of improvements in the GLES rendering path and AML platform, with VAAPI on Intel config for interlaced content. Also, it offers improved database access speed to enhance the music streaming and playback experience.

Kodi Foundation also unveiled the name of the upcoming Kodi 19, following a round of polls, it has been unanimously voted to be called Matrix. As its the norm, all the different versions are named after some fictional characters or objects, with Kodi version 18 known as Leia - named after Princess Leia the famous character from Star Wars.

There are several new add-ons which can be used to personalize your experience on the Kodi app for Android, which really sets it apart from other media players, and for the entire changelog, see the Github Milestone repository to learn more about the Leia update of Kodi.

Kodi 18.2 Leia brings a host of Bug fixes to the Open-source media software



Google Cloud Code offer a set of plug-ins for Visual Studio Code and JetBrain's IntelliJ, with the aim of speeding up the building, deployment, and debug cycle of cloud-native applications.

While the Microsoft Visual Studio Code editor and the JetBrains IntelliJ Idea IDE makes it easier for developers to build apps that can run on Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) and also the Kubernetes container orchestration platform.

The Google Cloud Code, still in beta for Visual Studio Code and in alpha stage for IntelliJ, will accelerate the development lifecycle, with the command-line container tools which include: Kubectl, Skaffold, and Jib, enabling developers to analyze projects even during the build stage.

Cloud Code extension of the edit-compile-debug loop to a local/remote Kubernetes environment, leveraging the infrastructure as code concept, with configurations managed as a repo, would allow reproducible environments and quicker spotting of errors.

The support for local deployment of profiles, for defining targets such as local deployment, shared development, testing or production, will enable debugging from the workstation or in the cloud.

And Google Cloud Code integration with existing development tools and services, such as Google’s own Cloud Build and Stackdriver, means that developers can perform pull requests or commits, to trigger Cloud Build for the building, testing, and deployment of application.

The pairing of Cloud Code with Cloud Build will make it easier to edit and test Kubernetes config changes. With Templates, linting, and error highlighting provided for Kubernetes yaml files.

Additionally, Google APIs can be integrated to apps, and application logs viewable from any environment directly from the IDE.

How Google Cloud Code can help in boosting the development of Kubernetes



Incognito mode in Chrome is one of the ways to restrict websites from collecting your data as you surf the Web, but it isn't much effective as some sites are still able to track users even when browsing in incognito mode, and have their cookies follow them all over to coerce into paying for a service.

Google is looking to change all that, as it is testing a new implementation of Filesystem API flag to thwart those rogue sites from tracking a user in incognito mode.

The Filesystem API flag in Chrome 75 will disallow websites from discovering what a user is browsing on the web in incognito mode, however it isn't enabled by default, if you opt for incognito mode, you'll need to enable the feature for your track to be untraceable. To enable the feature, simply enter chrome://flags as URL and find the “Filesystem API in Incognito” flag, once enabled, you should restart the browser and viola, no websites would be able to track your browsing in incognito mode.

And you can check if the API is working by navigating to the test website, where you can detect if you are in incognito mode and enabled the Filesystem flag.

But, Chrome isn't the only browser getting this enhancement to user’s privacy, as Firefox has already rolled out advanced content blocking back in January, with the support for DNS over HTTPS, DoH and Anti-tracking mechanism able to thwart third-party web trackers from following Firefox users across sites.

The advance restriction option for Firefox disables all web tracking and cookies, thus prevents the profiling of your browser usage, which tracking is beneficial for ads targeting.

Google bringing better Privacy and Security with Incognito Mode on Chrome 75



Cryptocurrency is perhaps the most widely discussed topics around payment methods in seminars, meetings, and elsewhere nowadays. Since its inception, the technology of cryptocurrency has revolutionized the world of information technology.

While cryptocurrency serves as the alternate payment method using the digital transaction based peer to peer networking, Bitcoin remains the most innovative technology of the 21st century. With cryptocurrency and bitcoin technology providing the financial world with a safer, more technical, and decentralized payment method that doesn’t involve any legal monetary system.

As one of the most amazing and innovative technologies ever, bitcoins, and other forms of cryptocurrency are the most widely discussed topics from students to industry experts, crypto-nerds, and everyone else who is enthusiastic enough about how technology can be used for general goods.

In fact, everyone is crazy about crypto, and so are we. "We have adopted an out of box approach to show our love for cryptocurrency. Such a trend surely deserves appreciation, and that is precisely what we have done. We have introduced a blend of creativity and innovation with an added flavor of uniqueness and fun to create a range of products for cryptocurrency users", stated the people at Crypto wardrobe.

"What we have done is to adopt a brand new approach and create something for people who are fond of technology. Crypto wardrobe provides a wide range of clothing, apparel, and accessories with cryptocurrency prints on it. From the complete range of crypto merch to bitcoin t-shirt, we have made everything look extra cool; besides, we also have a full range of crypto clothing and accessories with symbols of bitcoin and cryptocurrency."

With our unique and crazy range of t-shirts, mugs, cool hoodies, and crypto merch, you can show your love for cryptocurrency crazily and excitingly. Stay fashionable and show off being a crypto nerd with our range of crypto clothing and bitcoin t-shirt. Get your favorite accessories and apparel and enjoy the unique apparel ideas.

Crypto wardrobe is the number one crypto clothing company and surely one of the pioneers. We are the first one to launch a complete collection of apparel and crypto clothing based on bitcoins, cryptocurrency, and their symbols. We have had a few ideas about creating something special for crypto lovers. Designing around cryptography can be annoying if you are not innovative. We used our imagination and innovation to create something that is good for everyone. From kid to industry experts, and nerds, we have an apparel for everyone. Not only garments, but we have a complete range of crypto merch and bitcoin t-shirt.

Our designs are undoubtedly unique as we are the first to design such products. Besides individual and innovative designs, our material are professionally crafted and stitched into perfection using the best quality fabric.

Thus, our range of crypto clothing is perfect for everyone. With a bit of fun and innovation, we have paved the way for everyone's success. Show your love for crypto and get the fantastic crypto theme range of clothing for an entire different outlook in your appearance.

Crypto Wardrobe - Pioneer in Concept of Crypto Clothing Online



Android dominance makes it a target for malicious activities; with over 1.4 billion people using an Android smartphone or tablet per day, coupled with the fact that it’s open source and free for manufacturers to use, means it's a big deal.

While Google has been battling to keep off these malicious actors from its already-huge Android ecosystem, malware apps still happen to find their way into the Play Store. But Google had recently made changes in the Play Store policies, adding new restriction for Android APIs to make it mandatory for every new application to undergo some rigorous security testings and reviews before been accepted into the Play Store.

And some of the new rules include, the restriction of developers from abusing the Android accessibility services, and access to certain permissions such as call logs and SMSes; with adding trait-based malware scanner, and employing human reviews for apps before acceptance to the Play store.

The review process for app from new developers with no proven track record within the ecosystem will take days, and in some cases weeks, allowing the company to thoroughly check for suspicious activities before approving the apps to be published on the Play Store.

Google had been busy with keeping Android secure over the years, pushing out security updates monthly, but still, not every single Android smartphone and tablet receives these security updates.

The potential damage could be frightening, as Android fragmentation problem is not easily solved, which means that the question of Android security comes down to device. However, Google has taken a step to ensure that Android OS is up-to-date with Project Treble, the remodeling of the architectural framework establishing a modular base for lower-level code created by vendors as separate from the operating system.

Project Treble could help to ramp up the number of phones running Android Pie, as it will give manufacturers a clear-cut way to update from Android Oreo to next version without much fuss.

How Google is making it harder for Rogue Apps to get into Android Play Store



Technical writing is one of the most lucrative areas in the freelance enterprise. From editing, writing, drawing rewriting to reviewing, you will never run out of jobs. However, it is not everyone that gets it right. Without appropriate tools or gadgets, doing any of these tasks can be another nightmare in your quest for earning money working from home. When it comes to creating WebPages, editing videos, creating plans and manuals, you need the best tools.

Therefore, a rookie in technical writing may want to ask questions such as the following:

  • Which are the best tools for creating products webpage?
  • Is there a gadget I can use to summarize content and create a more catchy pictorial/inforgraphics representation of ideas and plans?
  • Where do I find the best gadgets for technical writing?


Well, the above questions can go on and on, but with this post coming hot on the heels of your quest for the best tools for technical content creation, you’ve got everything in one place. Most importantly, it explores gadgets of the future. Take a look.

Notepad++

Sometimes creating technical content is all about what you see is what you get (WYSIWYG). And with Notepad ++, a rich software for technical writing, you can straightaway start creating documents for an online product. It is not useful now, but is also a gadget that technical writers will need in the unforeseeable future. The most notable aspect of Notepad++ is the fact that is a beginner’s surefire bet on learning basic HTML and with plenty of plugins, there is no limitation to creativity.

WordPress

WordPress isn’t just a blogging platform. It is also a gadget for amateur and experienced technical writers. It is free and open to everyone who would wish to create content in the form of blogs. Whether you choose to use word or HTML editor, WordPress comes with plentiful gadgets for a writer who wishes to explore realms of creativity. In the end, everything you create is appealing to the eye.

Adobe Illustrator

Adobe products keep getting better. And for technical writers, Adobe illustrator is not only a multifaceted gadget for creating great content but also an indispensible companion. Whether you want to scale images while maintaining their quality, create logos or play around with vector graphics, Illustrator is a technical writing gadget of the future. However, given that it is costly, you want to explore best alternatives such as Affinity Designer or Inkscape.

oXygen XML Author

OXygen XLM Author is another gadget for future technical writers. It is DITA (document information typing architecture) compliant and available as open source. Moreover, it is a cheap alternative to Adobe Framemaker. Also take note that you will need to use oXYgen XLM author alongside oXygen developer for the best results.

Doc-To-Help

Doc-To-Help is a gadget for creating technical content in XML format. The product owner, ComponentOne in collaboration with Microsoft, makes it accessible for use with most Microsoft’s products. The good news about Doc-To-Help is that it makes it possible to deliver content in varying formats.

Final Words

There are lots of gadgets from which to choose the best for technical writing. And with a future that is set to become more advanced, others like MediaWiki, Whatfix and Microsoft Visio are worth mention. You can always request Thesis Geek for a paper on this topic and learn more. Do not forget to pay attention to promising gadgets that will change the way writers who create technical content go about their day to day businesses of helping businesses grow.

Top Most & Promising digital gadgets for Technical Writing of the future



Google announced a number of new G Suite enhancements, with some features still in beta, many of which are aimed at improving enterprise security.

G Suite comprises productivity and collaboration tools, software and products developed by Google, especially for enterprise customers, which includes: Gmail, Hangouts and Google+ for communication; Docs, Sheets, Slides, Forms, Drive for storage; and Sites for collaboration, all applications running in the Cloud.

The enhancements for Gmail include support for SMTP MTA Strict Transport Security (MTA-STS), which standard help to improve email security by requiring valid public certificate for authentication and strong encryption for email in transit (requiring TLS 1.2 or higher).

While turning on MTA-STS for domain and SMTP TLS reporting, a new standard also introduced to G Suite customers, businesses can ensure that all external mail servers connecting to their server will report connection problems, so as to enable the administrators to identify and fix any security issues.

Also, administrators now have even more controls with advanced anti-phishing and malware protections, with security sandbox adding secure execution for malicious attachments, and analyzes the effects it may have on the operating system.

And there is a new beta program to help admins assess organization’s exposure to security issues and have the ability to collaborate with other colleagues in the remediation, through new automated processes.

Google had earlier launched macro recording to provide a way to automate repetitive tasks within the G Suite spreadsheet, potentially to save enterprises hours spent on the job.

These updates are coming as Google aims to attract more enterprise customers to its productivity suite, which now boasts of over three million paying customers worldwide.

Google beefs up G Suite with more enhancements to improve Enterprise security



Adblock Plus and uBlock are perhaps the most popular ad blocking extensions in the market, with the former exploding in popularity in China and India. While many Web surfers are increasingly favoring ad blockers, with over 100 million users already using these tools.

But latest findings reveals that the $rewrite filter available on AdBlock, Adblock Plus and uBlock enables filter list maintainers to inject malicious code into web pages.

The $rewrite feature is supposed to allow changing of the filter rules in deciding which content get blocked and which to allow, which often there are content elements that are hard to block. And the feature can be exploited in a trivial order to attack even complex web service, like Google services, with attacks almost undetectable.

While the $rewrite filter option is employed by ad blockers to alter the tracking data and thus block ads requests by redirecting traffic. It allows rewrites only within the origin, and requests of SUBDOCUMENT, SCRIPT, OBJECT and OBJECT_SUBREQUEST types are not supported.

The exploit, however is possible with the help of the filter option when used with XMLHttpRequest or Fetch to download code snippets for execution, allowing requests to arbitrary origins and also a server-side redirect.

According to the researcher, Armin Sebastian, Google services like Google Maps, Gmail, and Google Images, are exempt from the exploitable requirements. Albeit, other web services could be exploited by the flaw.

But since the potential security issue is considered to be present solely in the browser extensions, and the exploit is made up on a set of browser extension and web service vulnerabilities chained together, it is worth keeping in mind these conditions.

How Ad Blocker can be Exploited to transfer Malicious Code unto PCs



Anthos platform, formerly known as Google Cloud Services, is a Kubernetes-powered service for building and managing hybrid applications, which is now available on Google Cloud with GKE, adding to the Kubernetes infrastructure.

While the erstwhile Google Cloud Services Platform uses Kubernetes to manage hybrid applications on-premises or on the cloud, Anthos takes things a step further making it possible to manage workloads even on third-party clouds, such as Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services.

Anthos will avail IT administrators a more consistent framework for development, management and control of resources, with tasks automated across on-premise and Google Cloud infrastructure.

Besides Kubernetes, Anthos also incorporates Istio, an open source service that reduces the complexity of cloud deployments, and a Kubernetes platform for serverless workloads, known as Knative.

Anthos boasts of features such as ability of applications to run anywhere, including Google Cloud, and other third-party clouds or even the user’s data center, where Anthos can run on existing hardware with no need for forced stack refresh. Additionally, APIs are made available for users to work with at their own pace.

Google also introduced Anthos Migrate, a beta version of the platform as part of the roll out, in order to help automigrate virtual machines from other clouds or on-premises to containers in the Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE). The migration to Anthos will require a GKE Cluster On-Premise and running new cloud-native apps, or migrating existing applications into a cluster, which can handles such tasks as OS patching and VM maintenance.

Google launches the production version of Anthos for managing multicloud applications



The Wi-Fi Alliance launched WPA3 Protocol with offering of more resilient, and password-based authentication for WiFi users, even when they choose passwords that fall short of typical recommendations.

But the WPA3's Simultaneous Authentication of Equals (SAE) handshake, the secure key protocol between devices which ensure stronger protection against password guessing attempts by third parties has been reported to have a flaw that could allow hackers gain access to non-encrypted traffic between the device and the access point.

The report credited to security researchers, Mathy Vanhoef and Eyal Ronen, which they dubbed Dragonblood revealed that WPA3’s Simultaneous Authentication of Equals (SAE) handshake, known as Dragonfly, is susceptible to password partitioning attacks, with the possibilities of also breaking the encryption.

This flaw could be leveraged by an attacker to crack the WiFi users passwords or even get access to the encrypted traffic exchange taking place between the devices.

As the increase of transmission of sensitive information over the Wi-Fi connections has made it mandatory to secure this important gateway, the Wi-Fi Alliance has made a number of improvements to ensure stronger protections for the data exchanged between computers, phones or smart home devices.

The researchers promptly forwarded their findings to the Wi-Fi Alliance, and the organization worked closely with the security team to release a fix, which software patch will be made available through the regular software update for all devices.

It is highly recommended that all WiFi users should update their devices by installing the latest software patches as they are made available, so as to avoid becoming victims of password hack.

WPA3’s Secure handshake, Dragonfly affected by Password Partitioning Attacks



While Opera browser boasts of free unlimited VPN proxy added some years ago, but the VPN was pretty slow which makes it rather usable for many tasks. Opera 60 (also known as “Reborn 3"), the latest browser version has speed up things a bit, making the free VPN more of a delight, and currently, it also allows you to view Netflix shows, which support was blocked in the former versions.

This means that if, for instance, you're in a region with unsupported Netflix shows, you can use the Opera VPN to watch movies and TV shows that's only accessible for U.S. viewers.

The new Opera 60’s VPN is entirely free, and you can browse different Netflix shows in other supported regions, such as South American soap operas, as well as other selection of movies and TV shows, including Rick & Morty and Spiderman: Homecoming, that are supposed to be unavailable on the Netflix U.S. service.

Albeit, the VPN feature doesn’t offer anonymity for your web connection, that is to say that your connection is non-encrypted; what it does is to simply show your physical location as been somewhere else. Opera, however offered users a choice of an “optimal location” nearby, or the option to choose between servers in “America,” Europe, or Asia.

Opera 60 also introduces a cryptocurrency wallet, which is built on the Ethereum Web3 technology. But the free and unlimited VPN service remains the rallying point of the browser; and perhaps it will help Opera’s browser to rise back to prominence once more.

Opera Software releases Opera 60 with a free, faster VPN and Cryptocurrency wallet



Google Cloud platform is designed to make it possible for organizations to manage security, not just for the Google platform, but also for other cloud-based applications, run by the companies. And to make things a bit easier, Google is bringing new enhancements to its Cloud platform to improve the ability of organizations to manage security across multicloud.

The Cloud Platform now afford businesses context-aware access at no additional charges, coupled with the virtual private cloud security controls, previously in beta, which allow organizations to define security perimeters around certain resources such as storage buckets, BigQuery datasets, and BigTable instances.

While the Google Cloud Security Command Center, which was first introduced last year, now also generally available, will help companies to defend against cyberattacks around the cloud infrastructures.

Google has also partnered with third-party vendors for additional capabilities, such as StackRox to bring detail insights and security support for Kubenetes containers, which previously customers had to have two separate management panels, Google's own, and another for StackRox tools.

Now, StackRox data will be directly available through Google's Cloud Security Command Center, and the security data can be sourced from both private or public cloud provider for Kubernetes containers, and also providers offering non-Kubernetes containers.

Albeit, there is the downside of potential attack surface which can be larger than normally the case, as StackRox can analyze traffic patterns of applications, to identity which lines of communication are used, which it can shut down, and automatically handle such configurations.

Additional security issue, is the Kubernetes native management dashboard, which opened Tesla backdoor to hackers who were able to use Kubernetes platform to create new containers to run cryptomining software.

Google is nonetheless working tirelessly to protect its own services and users on both these fronts, and will be expanding its Android-based strong authentication, a separate, secure alternative to text messages, for companies to use with their own apps.

Google's virtual private Cloud Security Controls, previously in beta, now generally available



Google Station is a free WiFi service from Google in partnership with local broadband providers to roll out WiFi hotspot in public places, which was first internationally extended to India and Indonesia in March 2018, and later the service was made available in Nigeria.

The company at the “Google for Nigeria” event last year, announced the entrance of the Google Station into Africa, with Nigeria as the first point of call to enjoy the privilege of high speed broadband Internet via WiFi, with the goal of solving the huge connectivity challenge in the country.

And for now, the free WiFi service is only available in the cities of Lagos and Abuja, the federal capital territory of Nigeria, with the promise of extension to other popular cities in the country soon.

Where to Connect the Google Station in Lagos?



There are currently 6 Google Station in lagos, namely: The Landmark Event Centre on Oniru at Victoria Island, The Palms in Lekki, Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA 2), Computer Village Ikeja, The Ikeja Mall, and The University of Lagos.

So if you reside in any of these locations or work there, or perhaps you just happen to be around any one of the place, you can easily enjoy fast and reliable internet connection.

Where to Connect the Google Station in Abuja?



The Google Station free WiFi is currently present in Wuse Market, Enab Plaza and Banex Plaza where it was first activated in a planned roll-out across the federal capital territory. While the Abuja Google Station was launched in partnership with BCN (Backbone Connectivity Network), a communications and data management company based in Abuja.

How to Connect to the Google Station Free WiFi?



To connect to the free WiFi hotspot at a Google Station location, simply turn on your smartphone WiFi and search for the network name, Free Google Station-21st Century and select it. Then it will bring up a request for you to sign in using your phone number. Now, click on the request page and enter your mobile phone number in the provided box. Google will send you a verification code via SMS, enter the code on the page. That's it, you are connected!

What's in it for Google, you may want to ask, Google will be pushing some ads to the users on the Google Station’s free WiFi, and thus will be making some revenue when such users click on the ads. And the users will enjoy free high speed internet in return, that's a win win situation!

Google Station: How to Connect to the Free WiFi service in Nigeria



Microsoft launched Visual Studio Code for Linux back in 2016, with the open source code editor haven been adjudged as one of the best text editors for Linux distributions and programming. Now, the company is bringing the Visual Studio Code as a Snap, to cater for the open source community and thus reaffirm its continuing romance with Linux.

Snap, the new universal packaging system for Linux apps, which can be updated on any supported distro without actually affecting the host, has been hugely loved by the open source community.

While the Visual Studio Code offer redefined editors for building modern web and cloud applications, with built-in full support for debugging and control of a variety of frameworks; and the availability for Linux as a snap, will ensure seamless auto-updates for its users.

With over 40 Linux distros supporting Snap, the team behind Visual Studio Code will be able to contribute across the board, and the automatic update capability will further make it possible for all apps to be up to date in security fixes and enhancements.

And as containerised software packages that work across the cloud, IoT devices and desktop, also natively on most Linux distributions, Snap brings automatic updates and rollback functionality, and greater flexibility for developers working within any Linux environment.

The Visual Studio Code for Linux as a snap is available to download at https://snapcraft.io/code, with Visual Studio Code – Insiders build, the build with the latest features, available for download here: https://snapcraft.io/code-insiders.

The Open Source Visual Studio Code now available as a Snap Package for Linux



Microsoft has released Kaizala mobile messaging app for business to its customers on Office 365 worldwide, almost two years after its unveiling, as an integral part of Microsoft Teams in a bid to win over the so-called “first-line” workers.

Kaizala, which was originally available on Android/iOS platforms for U.S. users, though not included in Office 365 subscriptions, but subsequently made available for commercial Office 365 subscriptions in 28 countries including Turkey, Brazil, India and Indonesia, in 2017.

Now, Microsoft has rolled out Kaizala to Office 365 customers in about 40 languages and 180 markets globally, including the U.S., in bid to stem the usage of consumer apps in the workplace which has been a huge challenge for large organizations as regards the control of sensitive data leakages.

The messaging app supports both video and audio calls, as well as group text messaging just like WhatsApp and Messenger, albeit it served as a business alternative to these consumer messaging apps, with more focus on business usage; Kaizala has strong security and administrative features that are lacking in those consumer-focused apps.

Kaizala ensures that data is encrypted at rest and in transit, and the management portal allow administrators to create and manage groups, as well as define policies for each of the groups.

And Microsoft account is not compulsory to access Kaizala, as users can sign up with their phone numbers, which “open directory” approach will serve for temporary employees and contractors who may be required to have access to the organizations services.

Also, it makes it pretty easy to support first-line workers or employees who are not provided with a corporate account, thus address the challenges of traditional business communications which prevents them from extending their services to such grade of workers.

Microsoft's planned wider rollout of Kaizala along with recent updates to Teams, the company’s collaboration and communication tool, may perhaps be the ultimately kill switch in the usage of consumer apps in the workplace.

Microsoft’s messaging app, Kaizala is now available to Office 365 business customers



Looking through your old contents, emails and invoices, you’ll find several clients that you haven’t spoken with in months, or even possibly years. Now check up on them with the right intentions. It doesn’t always have to be a message, you could also just leave a comment or something along those lines to something they’ve recently posted.

And that's the starting line on low-cost ways to increase your company's revenue, as compiled by the team at Dreamer Solutions, with the full list as follows:

Open the door for conversation with old client



Ask old clients how they feel about the work you did for them in the past, now that they’ve been given a longer time to rethink. And share with them a content piece relating to your industry, bonus points if it’s something you made. Ask them to subscribe and/or follow you if they don’t already, doesn’t matter if it’s social media or an email list, they will be seeing you more often. It’s easy to tell if you’re being genuine, so don’t ask about his new grandson if you truly don’t care.

Email list



Start by collecting emails if you aren’t already. Ask people to join your mailing list, friends, family, or past clients. Host a giveaway to collect emails. Offer a 10% discount to whoever places an order and is on your email list. Remember it’s not just a portal for you to throw offers at. If you’re in the real estate industry, write an informative piece of things a person should always look for before moving into a home. The possibilities are endless. If you don’t position yourself as a position of authority in your industry, why would they go to your business versus someone proving they have skin in the game.

Steady content strategy that stands you apart



Develop a content strategy that suits your business. Content marketing costs 62% less than traditional marketing and generates about 3 times as many leads. A client once told me,You don’t NEED to hire anyone for good content. Just thoroughly think it out and dedicate a few hours whenever you can to developing a content schedule. This doesn’t translate to flooding the timeline to magically save your bad week. For example, if you’re a fitness brand you could post three times as week: like Monday, Wednesday, Friday. Another could be sharing one of your favorite workout routines, two could be lifestyle type photos of people praising the routine. You can then later expand on that through an email to your subscribers or a blog post.

Mobile optimization



According to Google studies, many web pages on average take 15 seconds to load. That’s far too slow when you consider these same studies show that 53% of mobile site visitors leave a page that takes longer than three seconds to load. You can easily make a lot of the important changes yourself. Compress that big logo you have at the top, that could shave off a few seconds just by itself. Look at the actual code of the page. If some of it looks useless, delete it & preview the changes. If nothing changed, keep it deleted. Any images on the webpages, make sure they are compressed in general and the right dimensions for where it will be served.

Create quality contents



Sticking to original contents is arguably still the best way to rank on search engines. Practically any of those contents you send out to your email list are fair game to be a grande content piece on it’s own, if the content is informative and well thought out enough. Ideally you’d want the words out, not necessarily just an article on your website, however that would be the perfect place to start. Pitch the piece to your local newspaper, favorite blog, news station, magazine you read in the dentists office pertaining to your industry, anything. Research the keywords hashtags in your industry, use them multiple times in your writing so if it does make it to an online medium, anyone searching those keywords or hashtags has a higher chance of finding you.

In conclusion, content remains king and keeping relations with old and new clients doesn’t have to be all that difficult.

5 Low-cost Ways to Significantly Increase your Company’s revenue



Apple released the newest version of the MacOS/iOS programming language, Swift 5 with the promise of enabling even more slimmer apps, and better interoperability with stable application binary interface (ABI) and binary compatibility in the application development.

While Swift libraries are incorporated right into every latest release versions of iOS, MacOS, WatchOS and TVOS, as such developers are no longer required to include the libraries, making the applications building much easier.

Swift 5 brings dynamically callable types support which improve interoperability with other languages such as Python, JavaScript and Ruby.

This upgrade makes the ABI stable on all Apple platforms, and the enforcement of exclusive access to memory for release and debug builds ensure Swift is safer, with reimplementation of String, data types, and enforcing of exclusive access to memory during runtime.

Swift 5 string literals delimiters support for raw text is more enhanced, with single-line and multiline string literals enabled and capable of containing any content type.

And the Swift Package Manager now comes with target-specific build settings, customized deployment targets, dependency mirroring and the ability to generate coverage data.

Additionally, SIMD (single instruction, multiple data) vectors get the library subset of operations on the SIMD types supported by most processors in the library. To download Swift binaries for Linux, simply head to Swift.org or check out the Apple Xcode 10.2 IDE, available on the Apple Mac App Store.

Apple’s programming language, Swift 5 promises better interoperability, slimmer apps



April 1 is observed as April Fool's Day, and many tech companies have come to use the day to show mocked up teasers of Utopian ideas, but Google chose to offer its Maps users a cool Easter Egg, allowing them to play the legendary game ‘Snake’ right within the app.

Perhaps, you don’t have Google Maps installed on your smartphone, don't worry as there is a standalone site here, which allows you to play the game without the app, though the Easter Egg is supposed to expire in a week, the site will let you play the game for awhile longer.

For those with Google maps, simply tap the menu button on the Google Maps screen, and select the ‘Play Snake’ option to give it a try. And you can also select any city map presented on screen, either choose between London, San Francisco, Cairo, São Paulo, Sydney, Tokyo, or other region on the map.

Albeit, the actual game play have been tweaked a bit, so instead of a regular Snake, you will be getting a bus or train to pick passengers with en route to various landmarks along the given region.

April Fools' Day certainly ain't for kids only any more, as the tech companies also like to show they've got sense of humor; so expect fake news even from the most unlikely sources. And keep a watch on social media feeds as you're sure to find links across Twitter and Facebook about some ridiculous new venture from the likes of Uber.

But remember not to believe everything you see and relive the April Fools' web pranks, as more jokes roll in, so watch out and remain skeptical.

Google teases Maps users with Snake game play for April Fools’ Day

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