Viral ‘I’m Not a Cat’ Filter Is Decades-Old Software

Footage of a Texan lawyer denying he was a cat as he appeared with a feline filter on a live call was created using a decades-old piece of software pre-installed on some Dell laptops. The BBC reports: The Live Cam Avatar software was also available for people to download. It is not clear how the lawyer found himself speaking through the…

Dell’s New Monitors Have a Dedicated Microsoft Teams Button

Dell is launching three new monitors next month, and all of them come with a dedicated Microsoft Teams button. The Verge reports: Dell claims it has created the “world’s first video conferencing monitors certified for Microsoft Teams,” after Microsoft started certifying displays, webcams, and headsets last year. Three monitors will be available next month, all offering quick access to Microsoft Teams….

VMware Sues Former Executive Who Left for CEO Job at Nutanix

VMware said that one of its former top executives, Rajiv Ramaswami, violated his contractual obligations while being courted to be the chief executive officer of rival Nutanix, adding another dimension to a bitter rivalry between the two software makers. From a report: VMware’s lawsuit against Ramaswami, who was named CEO on Dec. 9, was filed Monday in California state court in…

Laptops, Desktop Sales See ‘Renaissance;’ Shortages Won’t Ease Until 2022

The world stocked up on laptop and desktop computers in 2020 at a level not seen since the iPhone debuted in 2007, and manufacturers still are months away from fulfilling outstanding orders, hardware industry executives and analysts said. Reuters reports: Remote learning and working has upturned the computer market during the coronavirus pandemic, zapping sales of smartphones while boosting interest in…

Will Businesses Make 2021 The Year of the Linux Desktop?

Writing for TechRepublic, open source advocate Jack Wallen predicts 2021 will be a year where open source technology dominates the world of big data even more than 2021 (with a big role predicted for SUSE). But he also sees businesses cutting costs by switching to open source solutions — including a big move to Linux on enterprise desktops, thanks to enterprise-ready…

Dell Adding Hardware Privacy Driver For Linux

According to Phoronix, a Dell privacy driver is is being prepared for the Linux kernel. From the report: Beginning in Dell’s 2021 laptop models they are providing hardware-based “privacy buttons” to disable microphone and camera support. These new Dell privacy buttons are basically hardware kill switches for the microphone and web camera video stream. The Dell privacy driver sent out on…

PC Market Shipments Grow a Stellar 13% in Q3 2020 To Break Ten-Year Record

Recently released Canalys data shows the global PC market climbed 12.7% from a year ago to reach 79.2 million units in Q3 2020 as it continued to benefit hugely from the COVID-19 crisis. From a report by the research firm: This is the highest growth the market has seen in the past 10 years. After a weak Q1, the recovery in…

Lenovo Begins Selling 30 Linux ThinkPads and ThinkStation PCs

“More top-tier computer OEMs are now offering a broad assortment of Linux desktops,” reports ZDNet. “In the latest move, Lenovo, currently the top PC vendor in the world according to Gartner, will roll Ubuntu Linux 20.04 LTS out across 30 of Lenovo’s ThinkPads and ThinkStations…” While Lenovo started certifying most of its laptop and PC line on the top Linux distributions…

Newly-Released Trove of Recordings from the 1980s Includes Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak

“Steve Jobs is now known for revolutionizing just about every part of the tech world, but back in 1988, he was perhaps best known for getting fired,” remembers SFGate:
In his first product reveal since his dismissal from Apple in 1985, Jobs unveiled a new project called NeXT at a meeting of the Boston Computer Society. An audio recording of the event…

‘The Future of American Industry Depends On Open Source Tech’

An anonymous reader shares an opinion piece from Wired, written by Kevin Xu and Jordan Schneider. Xu is the author of Interconnected, investor and advisor of open source startups at OSS Capital, and served in the Obama White House. Schneider is the author of the ChinaTalk newsletter and host of the ChinaTalk podcast, posted on Lawfare. From the report: Open source…