New Version of Microsoft Office Won’t Require You To Pay For a Subscription

In a company blog post Thursday, Microsoft released more details about the new, flat-price version of its Office productivity software coming later this year. The company emphasized that while its main focus remains in its subscription offering, Microsoft 365, it will release the one-time purchase Office 2021 for those who aren’t ready to move to the cloud. From a report: Office…

To Re-Enable Flash Support, South Africa’s Tax Agency Released Its Own Web Browser

“The South African Revenue Service (SARS) has released this week its own custom web browser,” reports ZDNet, “for the sole purpose of re-enabling Adobe Flash Player support, rather than port its existing website from using Flash to HTML-based web forms.” To prevent the app from continuing to be used in the real-world to the detriment of users and their security, Adobe…

Opera Now Has a Game Engine To Go With Its Gamer-Focused Browser

Opera has acquired YoYo Games, a British game development platform best known for GameMaker Studio 2, and is launching its Opera Gaming division. Engadget reports: Opera has bought the company for a simple reason: Opera GX. The gamer-focused web browser was launched in early access back in June 2019. Its headline feature is a slide-out control panel that lets you limit…

Razer Has Created a Concept N95 Mask With RGB and Voice Projection

Razer has created a concept reusable N95 respirator called Project Hazel, featuring Chroma RGB LEDs and microphones and amplifiers to project your voice. The Verge reports: It’s a concept design with a glossy outside shell made of waterproof and scratch-resistant recycled plastic, which is transparent to allow for lip-reading and seeing facial cues when you chat with people. Currently, there isn’t…

Google Says It is Expanding Fuchsia’s Open Source Model

New submitter RealNeoMorpheus shares a Google blogpost about Fuchsia — a new open source operating system that has been in the works for several years: Fuchsia is a long-term project to create a general-purpose, open source operating system, and today we are expanding Fuchsia’s open source model to welcome contributions from the public. Fuchsia is designed to prioritize security, updatability, and…

LA To Launch First ‘Transportation Technology Innovation Zone’

Mayor Eric Garcetti announced last week the city’s first Transportation Technology Innovation Zone, an area where innovators can test their transportation technology solutions. Archinect reports: Located in the West San Fernando Valley, the zone is the result of a partnership between Mayor Garcetti and City Councilmember Bob Blumenfield, “designed to transform Warner Center into one of L.A.’s mobility innovation and workforce…

Apple Added a Secret Button To Your iPhone

Your iPhone got a new button last month, and you may not have even noticed. The Verge reports: No, Apple didn’t sneak into your house and secretly superglue a button onto your smartphone. But it did release iOS 14, the latest version of its iPhone software, which includes a feature called Back Tap. Back Tap adds a fascinating new “button” to…

Spaces or Tabs? Microsoft Developers Reveal Their Preferences

In a new video, Microsoft’s principal cloud advocate and DevOps lead weighed in on that crucial and perennial developer question: which is better, indenting your code with spaces or with tabs? “This is kind of a loaded question… However, I am very opinionated on this. I happen to be a huge fan of tabs, for a couple of reasons. Number one,…

Apple Researching Apple Watch Bands That Can Provide Information In Braille

According to Apple Insider, Apple is researching an Apple Watch band that could contain controllable protrusions to present tactile information on the surface. From the report: Apple has famously always researched providing accessibility features in its devices, whether or not it’s profitable. However, so far there has been a limit to what the Apple Watch can do — and its bands…

Modernizing Workforce Development Programs to Train for the Jobs of the Future

By Kevin Mills, Head of Government Partnerships  COVID-19 is reshaping the labor market. The devastating economic slowdown caused by the pandemic has impacted hundreds of millions of workers globally and eliminated nearly half of jobs. In the United States, unemployment remains high, while job vacancies have started to disappear due to accelerated automation. For all […]
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