Instagram’s copycat moves have paid off. Instagram Stories now counts with 200 million daily users, surpassing Snapchat’s 161 million. Instagram Stories are disappearing slideshows of videos and photos that are near-identical to Snapchat Stories, down to the name. Instagram Stories got off to a great start: racking up its first 100 million daily users in…
The number of Internet of Things devices used to spark the “smart” in smart cities is projected to surge six-fold in the next decade, according to a new forecast from market research firm IHS Markit. Shipments of devices like sensors and nodes that detect pedestrians and traffic and measure water and air pollution are expected…
HP will make a major virtual reality push in June, when it will start shipping its Omen X VR backpack PC. The backpack PC has already been announced, but the company until now had not provided a shipping date. HP is accepting applications from gamers and commercial developers to test the product. There will be…
A U.S. Federal Communications auction of repurposed television spectrum has raised US$19.8 billion and will pave the way for mobile carriers to offer faster and more reliable service across the country. The 70MHz in new spectrum available will allow carriers to provide fast 5G service in coming years, FCC officials have said. It was the…
Microsoft this week again claimed that its Edge browser uses much less power than rivals, a key part of the company’s efforts to salvage the struggling Edge on Windows 10. “Microsoft Edge on the Creators Update uses 31% less power than Google Chrome 57, and 44% less power than Mozilla Firefox 52,” Kyle Pflug, a…
Slack is making it easier for coworkers to see what other people in their organization are up to, thanks to a new status-message feature unveiled Thursday. The functionality, which is rolling out to the messaging service’s customers over the next few days, lets users set a message in their profile that informs others about their…
Comcast Business announced Thursday it now offers direct, dedicated network links to the IBM Cloud global network. The move positions Comcast Business, a unit of Comcast, to compete against AT&T, Verizon, Bell Canada and telecom service providers already offering IBM Cloud Direct Link services. Comcast Business already claims to be the nation’s biggest cable provider…
The Travelers insurance company has teamed up with Symantec to give policyholders cyber security assessments and consultation in order to help them manage risks. The self-assessment consists of filling out a 25-question survey and getting a written report of how well their network and data protection stacks up. If they want to, they can talk…
An unpatched vulnerability in the Magento e-commerce platform could allow hackers to upload and execute malicious code on web servers that host online shops. The flaw was discovered by researchers from security consultancy DefenseCode and is located in a feature that retrieves preview images for videos hosted on Vimeo. Such videos can be added to…
Can an organization really cut development time more than 70 percent by embracing the agile philosophy and open architecture? The intelligence-gathering arm of the U.S. Air Force says it’s done just that. The Air Force’s Distributed Common Ground System, a network of 27 surveillance and intelligence-gathering sites, projects that it will ultimately save hundreds of millions of…