The European parliament recently voted on a major reform of EU copyright law. Henceforth, new laws are supposed to provide better IP protection for copyright owners. Upload filters are particularly controversial, as they'll analyze, and potentially block, videos, songs and images during the upload process, if they deem them in violation of intellectual property rights. All over the world, copyright owners, like movie makers, musicians and authors, have been following the discussion and now feel their finest hour has come. But what are upload filters, how do they work - and why are they so controversial?
Imagine your PC or laptop had a port with a myriad of connection options and lots of raw power but you didn't even know it existed! That's what many computer owners must feel like these days. Purchasing a computer usually involves a welter of technical terms that are hard to sort out. And honestly, whose interest would spike if, along with disk size, RAM, processor and graphics card, the term Thunderbolt was suddenly thrown around? What is almost considered old hat in the Apple world is still a rarity among Windows users.
Every month, several thousand apps are published. Most target a niche market, many are clones of existing popular programs, seldom does a new app make a splash these days. When WhatsApp launched, ten years ago, it got barely noticed and messengers were still considered PC-only. For text messages, there was SMS, for everything else, there were phone calls. Read on to learn why Facebook's rejection really got the app off the ground and why 2019 will be a decisive year for WhatsApp!
At times, it seems the immense success Issociated with a product can turn out to be a curse in disguise. Case in point: Microsoft Windows 7. The company's latest OS incarnation seems doomed to always be perceived as second best, with Windows 10 only claiming a marginal lead over Windows 7 during Christmas sales in 2018. No matter how hard Microsoft has tried, many Windows 7 users still refuse to make the switch. January 14, 2020, will mark the end of extended support for the popular OS. The date has been known for years but what does it mean for end users? After said date, Microsoft will no longer provide security updates for Windows 7 by default, leaving millions of PCs vulnerable, should new security leaks be discovered. Users now have a year to think about alternatives.
As early as last week, a spicy rumor has been making the rounds on the Internet that led to lively discussions in many Christmas-ready offices. Would Microsoft really do it? Are we witnessing the end of an era that has had its fair share of successes, downfalls and desperation? Can you imagine a Mercedes with a BMW engine? Last Friday, it became official: Microsoft will base their next browser on Chromium. How did this happen and what does it mean for you?
