November 2022
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Windows 11 – The first feature drop – just released – is bringing: tabs for File Explorer, the suggested actions feature, a tweaked “open with” interface, taskbar overflow and link to Task Manager options, a share to more devices feature, the ESPN app, and an updated Photos app. Feature drops install much like cumulative updates for Windows. Another one is coming next January.
Windows 10 22H2 was released. Updates are minor.
Microsoft is disabling Exchange online basic authentication for email. It is being rolled out now to all Office 365 accounts.
We have seen some clients with Outlook 2013 unable to log in. This is because it uses the older basic authentication. Outlook 2013 is unsupported when used with Office 365 (Exchange Online) email. There is a workaround – contact us.
As mentioned, some older printer/copiers may stop sending scans via email if configured to use older email authentication standards. Some software that sends email may also be affected.
A hacker could cycle through every combination (200 billion) of eight-character passwords in just 48 minutes using brute force methods with readily available RTX 4090 GPU cards.
Email accounts using POP or IMAP – which use basic authentication – are vulnerable.
Teams will now have over 800 emojis from which to choose.
Microsoft is rebranding most of “Office” to Microsoft 365. Web links are changing. Microsoft will migrate and rename all its Microsoft 365 links from the office.com domain to use microsoft365.com. Guide to Microsoft Portal URLs.
iOS 16.1 released. Update your Apple products.
Android 13 released.
StarLink Internet has been a good solution for some of our rural clients. Prices start at $110/month.
Comcast isn’t signing up many new broadband customers. Their solution—raise prices.
xFi Complete from Comcast may offer higher upload speeds, which is important for remote work. It’s not available locally yet. Details.
The FTC Safeguards Rule update, effective December 9th, affects tax preparers, financial advisors, and others handling financial data. Institutions that “maintain customer information concerning fewer than five thousand consumers” are exempt. Additional details about the IT requirements are on the FTC website.
Musk fired CEO Parag Agrawal, CFO Ned Segal, top policy executive Vijaya Gadde, and general counsel Sean Edgett… Twitter will become a privately owned company. Cryptocurrency and pornography are apparently the fastest-growing interest sectors.
YouTube Premium Family price is increasing to $22.99.
Those who pay $7.99 monthly say they have not yet received the price increase emails.
YouTube is testing up to 10 unskippable ads before videos.
Installing a content blocker, such as uBlock Origin, may help on PC browsers.
Netflix Basic with Ads is launching in November, $6.99 per month.
Netflix has lost more than 200,000 subscribers.
Apple raises prices for Music and TV+
Brain-computer interface (BCI): Several BCI technologies already exist, including Neurable, which builds brainwave sensors into headphones to make their BCI technology accessible. Emotiv, Kernel, Bitbrain, OpenBCI, and Elon Musk’s Neuralink have sensing technologies that developers can use to develop their BCI products further.
The Man Who Controls Computers with His Mind.
Decoding Thoughts from fMRI Data.
Metal 3D printers used to build rockets.
FedEx abandons its last-mile delivery robot program.
Amazon stops field tests and scales back work on Scout, its home delivery robot program.
The robot takeout revolution – seems to be getting lost.
ECONOMY
PC sales are down about 20% in the 3rd quarter. Supply is improving some, but prices are not coming back down.
Tesla, Netflix, and Coinbase have all announced layoffs in recent months.
Many companies mentioned growth during the pandemic came to a sudden stop.
Soundcloud layoffs impacting up to 20% of the company.
140 iRobot employees will lose their jobs.
Vimeo is cutting 6% of it’s workforce.
Robinhood is laying off 23% of its workers.
Shopify is laying off 10% of it’s workers, about 1000 people.
Peloton is cutting 12% of it’s workforce, about 500 people.
Zillow laid off 300.
Flipboard cutting 25% of it’s workers.
Microsoft is cutting 1% of it’s workers.
Meta and Amazon have stopped hiring.
Intel said there will be layoffs coming.
Layoffs.fyi – track company layoffs.
Rare Third-year La Nina weather pattern predicted. This may be another dry winter.
According to The Times’ drought tracker, more than 97% of the state is now under severe, extreme, or exceptional drought, the three worst categories.
Scientists forecast that Earth will cross many irreversible climate “tipping points”.
Only 19.4 million Americans have received a bivalent COVID booster—just 6 percent of the people eligible for the shot.
Fall COVID surge begins in Europe.
COVID boosters and the latest research – Bivalent may not be better.
SECURITY
Service lets anyone launch Microsoft 365 phishing attacks.
SaaS platform Phishing – whenever you’re requested to enter your account credentials, ensure that you are on the legitimate website URL before you start typing in the form boxes.
EyeMed hacked, pays $4.5 Million penalty.
Thomson Reuters exposes 3TB+ of sensitive data.
Meta (Facebook) fined $24.7 million and required to apologize for violating campaign transparency laws 822 times.
Twilio Reveals Another Breach from the Same Hackers Behind the August Hack.
Student Loan Breach Exposes 2.5M Records – mostly in Oklahoma.
HUMOR
We’re not going to lay you off, Andy, but we are going to store you in the cloud for a bit.
By Tim Torian