Microsoft: Yeah, we make Office 2019 and Internet Explorer, but don’t use ‘em

A curious week in which Microsoft disses its own products.

Two twins race to complete a PowerPoint challenge.

In an unusual turn of events, Microsoft this week warned Windows users off from using its Internet Explorer and dissed its new Office 2019 suite in a series of videos that show it to be worse than the competition.

While Windows 10 uses the newer, faster, much more standards compliant Edge browser as its default, it still ships with Internet Explorer 11. Enterprise customers with legacy systems from time to time want to make Internet Explorer 11 the default, but Microsoft doesn't think this is a good idea. Internet Explorer 11 isn't being updated to support new Web technology (and indeed, hasn't been updated for many years), existing only as a compatibility tool to access legacy "designed for Internet Explorer" content that simply won't work properly in any other browser.

As such, while it might be tempting to set Internet Explorer as the default to ensure that any intranet and line-of-business applications continue to work, that comes at a price. It will be slower, less secure, and increasingly incompatible with the broader Web as developers drop the old browser from their testing. So please, use it only when it's absolutely necessary.

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Kein 5G: Sprint reicht Klage gegen AT&T wegen 5Ge ein

AT&Ts “5G Evolution” führe bei Kunden zu der irrigen Annahme, sie verfügten über ein schnelleres Netz als bei anderen Anbietern – mit dieser Begründung und wegen dem daraus entstehenden Geschäftsverlust verklagt Sprint nun seinen Mitkonkurrenten. AT&T …

AT&Ts "5G Evolution" führe bei Kunden zu der irrigen Annahme, sie verfügten über ein schnelleres Netz als bei anderen Anbietern - mit dieser Begründung und wegen dem daraus entstehenden Geschäftsverlust verklagt Sprint nun seinen Mitkonkurrenten. AT&T sieht keine Probleme mit der Bezeichnung. (5G, Telekommunikation)

Daily Deals (2-08-2019)

Some folks love touchpads. Others prefer a mouse. But I say why not both? Especially when it costs next-to-nothing to pick up a halfway decent wireless mouse? Case in point: the VicTsing MM057 has overwhelmingly positive reviews on Amazon and normally …

Some folks love touchpads. Others prefer a mouse. But I say why not both? Especially when it costs next-to-nothing to pick up a halfway decent wireless mouse? Case in point: the VicTsing MM057 has overwhelmingly positive reviews on Amazon and normally sells for just $12… but today you can pick it up for half the […]

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Google wants a VP of Wearables, might finally take smartwatches seriously

Google job listing hopes someone—anyone—will save Wear OS.

Image of Wear OS watches.

Enlarge / The new Wear OS. (credit: Google)

Think you can save Android Wear? A new Google job listing (first spotted by Android Police) shows an opening for "Vice President, Hardware Engineering, Wearables" on the Google Hardware team. The person would "work collaboratively with the Senior Leadership team for Google Hardware and will be responsible for the design, development, and shipment of all Google's Wearable products." This job position and the recent acquisition of technology from Fossil are both solid evidence that Google is interested in producing a self-branded wearable.

There are currently zero Google wearable products on the market. Google Hardware builds Pixel phones, tablets, smart speakers, Wi-Fi routers, phone-powered VR headsets, and Chromecasts, but it has never tackled a wearable. To date, the only Google-branded wearable the company has ever made is (checks notes) Google Glasswhich came out five years ago and was barely a consumer product.

While Google has mostly been letting the wearable hardware world pass it by, the company at least makes wearable software in the form of (Android) Wear OS. At one point Wear OS shipped on smartwatches from Samsung, LG, Sony, Huawei, Motorola, Fossil, and Asus, but most major OEMs have given up on Google's wearable OS. A big part of the problem is that there is just nothing to make a smartwatch with. The hardware ecosystem has been strangled by Qualcomm, which refuses to make a modern smartwatch chip that can compete with Apple or Samsung's in-house chip divisions. Qualcomm's lack of wearable investment means its "Snapdragon Wear" chips are basically the same repackaged SoC every year. They are all built on a manufacturing process technology from 2013, which means Wear OS devices can't compete with Apple or Samsung when it comes to speed, battery life, or device compactness.

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Fab D1X: Intel baut Halbleiterwerk in den USA aus

Mehr Kapazität für kommende Nodes: Intel wird in Hillsboro im US-Bundesstaat Oregon die vorhandene Fab D1X erweitern. So werden rund 2.000 Arbeitsplätze geschaffen und 10 nm sowie 7 nm angekurbelt. (Halbleiterfertigung, Prozessor)

Mehr Kapazität für kommende Nodes: Intel wird in Hillsboro im US-Bundesstaat Oregon die vorhandene Fab D1X erweitern. So werden rund 2.000 Arbeitsplätze geschaffen und 10 nm sowie 7 nm angekurbelt. (Halbleiterfertigung, Prozessor)

Google Fiber’s biggest failure: ISP will turn service off in Louisville

Google Fiber will leave city and try to clean up the mess it made.

A Google Fiber van in Louisville.

Enlarge (credit: Google Fiber)

Google Fiber will turn off its network in Louisville, Kentucky and exit the city after a series of fiber installation failures left cables exposed in the roads. Google Fiber's customers in Louisville will have to switch ISPs and will get their final two months of Google Fiber service for free to help make up for the disruption.

Google Fiber went live in Louisville late in 2017, just a few months after construction began. The quick turnaround happened because Google Fiber used a "micro-trenching" strategy that is quicker than traditional underground fiber deployment and doesn't require digging giant holes. Instead of a foot-wide trench, a micro-trench is about an inch wide and four inches deep.

But Louisville residents soon found exposed cables, as a WDRB article noted in March 2018. "When you're walking around the neighborhood, [the lines are] popping up out of the road all over the place," resident Larry Coomes said at the time. "People are tripping over it."

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5G-Ausbau: Bitkom erwartet Ablehnung von No-Spy-Abkommen durch USA

Nach der Einigung um Huawei sehen der Bitkom und ein Geheimdienstexperte der Grünen die Änderung des Gesetzes kritisch. Anders als Huawei ließen sich US- und europäische Unternehmen nicht auf ein No-Spy-Abkommen ein. (Huawei, Mobilfunk)

Nach der Einigung um Huawei sehen der Bitkom und ein Geheimdienstexperte der Grünen die Änderung des Gesetzes kritisch. Anders als Huawei ließen sich US- und europäische Unternehmen nicht auf ein No-Spy-Abkommen ein. (Huawei, Mobilfunk)

LibreOffice 6.2 introduces customizable toolbar

LibreOffice is a free and open source suite of office applications for creating, viewing, and editing text, spreadsheet, and presentation documents, among other things. Basically it’s an open source alternative to Microsoft Office — and for…

LibreOffice is a free and open source suite of office applications for creating, viewing, and editing text, spreadsheet, and presentation documents, among other things. Basically it’s an open source alternative to Microsoft Office — and for the most part you can use it to open and edit Office documents without paying for an Office license, […]

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Report: Bezos-hired sleuth suspects sexts stolen by “government entity”

Bezos gave private eye unlimited budget to investigate stolen photos.

Jeff Bezos.

Enlarge / Jeff Bezos. (credit: Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Yesterday Jeff Bezos alleged that David Pecker, CEO of the company that publishes the National Enquirer, attempted to blackmail Bezos by threatening to publish nude photos of Bezos. The married Bezos allegedly sent the explicit photos to another woman, broadcaster Lauren Sanchez.

One of the big unanswered questions in the story is how the National Enquirer obtained the photos. One obvious possibility is that someone hacked Bezos' phone—or possibly Sanchez's.

But in an interview on MSNBC, Washington Post reporter Manuel Roig-Franzia pointed to a different possibility. The Post is owned by Bezos, and while Roig-Franzia says he hasn't talked to Bezos directly, he has talked to Gavin De Becker, a legendary security consultant who is working for Bezos. "Gavin De Becker told us that he does not believe that Jeff Bezos' phone was hacked," Roig-Franzia said. "He thinks it's possible that a government entity might have gotten hold of his text messages."

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Music Industry Asks EU to Scrap Article 13

A powerful group of organizations in the music, broadcasting, and sports industries have called on the EU to cancel the proposed Article 13. Headed by IFPI, the worldwide voice of the music industry and formerly the most vocal supporter of the legislation, the groups say that “no directive at all” is better than a bad one.

Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and more. We also have VPN reviews, discounts, offers and coupons.

The road to implementing the EU’s proposed Article 13 started off relatively smoothly for the entertainment industries but during the past couple of months, serious cracks have begun to emerge.

In fact, the proposed legislation, which was designed to prevent large Internet platforms (such as YouTube) from exploiting the so-called Value Gap, has descended into unexpected chaos.

With large Internet platforms faced with the prospect of deploying filters to scoop up infringing content, there was outrage among huge numbers of YouTubers, who felt their livelihoods might be at stake. But somehow, in the midst of this dissent, YouTube began lobbying in favor of filtering.

With the battle lines becoming even more blurred, rightsholders began complaining about the shifting details of the proposals as they moved through the negotiation process, apparently in YouTube’s favor.

In December 2018, the Motion Picture Association, the International Union of Cinemas, the Premier League, and La Liga, announced that they were concerned about proposals for liability shields for large Internet services, which would gain power in the market, not lose it as planned.

Soon after, major entertainment organizations including IFPI complained that if Article 13 passed in its current form, they would be worse off than they were before. Things were very clearly not going to plan and were about to get worse.

Last month, the MPA and other rightsholders called for a suspension of Article 13 just as the EU Parliament and Council were about to agree on the final text. Those negotiations were eventually canceled after the Member States failed to agree on a final negotiating position.

Earlier this week, there appeared to be light at the end of the tunnel, with Article 13 proposals moving forward after France and Germany reached a deal on which services should be bound by the terms of Article 13.

Now, however, all external support for Article 13 appears to lie in tatters.

In an open letter, organizations including IFPI, IMPALA, Premier League, La Liga, and others in broadcasting and media, have effectively asked the EU to scrap Article 13 completely.

Noting that the original aim of Article 13 was to create “a level playing field in the online Digital Single Market”, the groups state that as it stands, the proposed legislation will not strengthen the positions of European rightsholders.

“Despite our constant commitment in the last two years to finding a viable solution, and having proposed many positive alternatives, the text – as currently drafted and on the table – no longer meets these objectives, not only in respect of any one article, but as a whole,” they write.

“As rightsholders we are not able to support it or the impact it will have on the European creative sector.”

While thanking parties for trying to reach a “good compromise” during the negotiations of recent months, the organizations state that the text contains elements which “fundamentally go against copyright principles enshrined in EU and international copyright law.”

“Far from leveling the playing field, the proposed approach would cause serious harm by not only failing to meet its objectives, but actually risking leaving European producers, distributors and creators worse off,” they state, winding up for the following bombshell.

“Regrettably, under these conditions we would rather have no Directive at all than a bad Directive. We therefore call on negotiators to not proceed on the basis of the latest proposals from the Council,” they conclude.

In other words, the global music industry (and others, less affected by the Value Gap) have effectively called for Article 13 to be canceled.

What happens next is anyone’s guess but Julia Reda, MEP for the Pirate Party, is cautioning that the EU probably won’t back away.

“The EU_Commission will never do the politically responsible thing and withdraw #Article13,” she wrote on Twitter.

“It is time for checks and balances to kick in. Council has to refuse the backroom deal by Macron & Merkel.”

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