Technology

Vacuum cleaners have been around for a while now, and you're probably thinking there aren't any major design or performance breakthroughs left to be achieved. Well, you might be wrong, because Shark has unveiled a new range of vacuums that it claims solve one big problem with today's best vacuum cleaners.

The USP of the Shark PowerDetect vacuum range is that they work just as well going backwards as they do going forwards. Most vacuums are designed to do most of their suction work when you're pushing them, and the return stroke is mostly just to get them back into position for another push. 

For a truly hands-off experience, you can opt for a self-empty base (Image credit: Future)

The PowerDetect vacuums boast a patent-pending fin design and 'DirectionDetect technology' to change that, and offer the same cleaning power no matter which way they're being maneuvered. It could... well, probably not quite halve, but definitely make a decent dent in, the time you need to spend vacuuming. 

I had a chance to see one of Shark's PowerDetect models in action at IFA 2024, and was impressed with what I saw – I could hear the suction continuing unabated when the vacuum was being pulled in reverse. It was demoed alongside another Shark cordless vacuum without this new feature, and sounded noticeably different. The proof is in the cleaning, of course, and we're in the process of getting one of these new vacuums tested to see if it's as good as Shark is promising. 

The PowerDetect (left) being demoed alongside a Statos model, without the forward/backward suction feature (Image credit: Future)

The range comprises three models, to suit different households and cleaning jobs. There's the Shark PowerDetect Cordless Vacuum (IP1251UKT), the Shark PowerDetect Powered Lift-Away Upright Vacuum Cleaner (AZ3900UKT), and the Shark PowerDetect Corded Stick Vacuum Cleaner (HZ4000UKT). 

Of those, I'd expect most people will be most interested in the first one. Shark is the brand behind many of today's best cordless vacuums, and a pretty serious rival to Dyson these days. As well as the new forward-and-backwards suction tech, the PowerDetect Cordless combines most of the best features of the current best Shark vacuums.

Best of both worlds

It used to be that if you wanted maximum power, you'd opt for a Shark Stratos model, while for tech smarts you'd buy a Detect Pro. Shark says the PowerDetect does both. On the 'detection' front, this vacuum can sense whether it's on a hard floor or carpet, and how dirty it is, and reduce or increase suction in response. It can also tell when it's close to the edge of a room, where dust can accumulate, and will boost suction just on that side of the cleaning head for an extra hit of cleaning power, without unnecessarily draining the battery. 

You can bend the wand forwards, flamingo-leg-style, to enable you to reach right under furniture, without having to crouch down awkwardly. There's also a promised 70 minutes of battery life – matching the longest runtime you'll find anywhere. And if you want an even more hands-off experience, you can opt for the version with the auto-empty dock.

We don't have pricing or launch date information for the Shark PowerDetect range yet, but we'll bring that to you as soon as we get it.

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Where you place your fan can affect both the temperature of your home and the numbers on your AC bill.

Solar panels can make a big difference in your energy bill and offer a sustainable energy option, but there are downsides to consider as well. Explore the pros and cons of solar panels to find out if they're a good choice for your home energy needs.

You can stream the animated film on Max.

Three Lions captain Harry Kane is in line to make his 100th appearance for his country.

The operators of the Quad7 botnet have been busy, adding new features and expanding their attack surface, according to multiple security researchers who have been keeping tabs on the malware’s recent evolution.

Quad7 was first spotted by a researcher alias Gi7w0rm, and experts from Sekoia, when it was only observed targeting TP-Link routers. However, during the following weeks, Quad7 (which was named so for targeting port 7777), expanded to ASUS routers, and now has been observed on Zyxel VPN endpoints, Ruckus wireless routers, and Axentra media servers.

To compromise these endpoints, a custom malware was written, the researchers further explained. For different types of devices, the botnet has different clusters. Each cluster is a variant of *login, it was explained, with Ruckus, for example, having the ‘rlogin’ cluster. Other clusters include xlogin, alogin, axlogin, and zylogin. Some clusters are relatively large, counting “thousands” of assimilated devices. Others are smaller, counting as little as two infections.

Mnemonic keys and seed phrases

The researchers don’t know the reason for such a small number on some of these clusters, and speculate that they still might be in an experimental phase, and that their numbers might mushroom once they’re ready to be deployed.

The goal of the campaign is also a mystery, but its most likely use case is for distributed brute-force attacks on VPNs, Telnet, SSH, and Microsoft 365 accounts.

Besides expanding, the botnet also improved in terms of communications and obfuscation. Apparently, it is a lot better when it comes to evading detection, as well as operational effectiveness.

The best way to defend against this type of botnets is to always keep the firmware and software of the devices up to date. If an endpoint is older and no longer supported by the OEM, replacing it with a newer model is the best way to go.

Via BleepingComputer

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Superhero movies can go one of two ways: these films can either be a faithful adaptations of beloved comic book canon texts or silly action flick flops. Looking at the new trailer for Max’s new comedy series The Franchise, the show will examine not the best superhero movies but the latter, poking fun at some of the badly-rated movies you see in the MCU and DC series. 

Created by Armando Iannucci (The Death of Stalin) and Academy Award winner Sam Mendes (American Beauty), The Franchise is set to arrive on Max, one of the best streaming services, on October 6. 

The story will follow the production crew behind fictional superhero movie Tecto: Eye of the Storm over the course of eight episodes. In the trailer, which you can watch below, we see the film crew fretting and fighting to pull the movie off, but its ability to succeed commercially is jeopardized when its behind-the-scenes drama shrouds the movie itself.  

Making up the members of the film crew is a star-studded cast of familiar faces across cinema and television, with Himesh Patel, Jessica Hynes, and Aya Cash from Prime Video’s hit superhero series The Boys as part of the dysfunctional film crew. The trailer also reveals several guest cameos you can expect across the series including ones from Daniel Bruhl (Captain America: Civil War) and Richard E. Grant (Can You Ever Forgive Me? and Saltburn), who’s expected to appear for one episode.

Opinion: Finally, superhero movies are being called out for what they are

I’ve never been one for movies within the MCU or DC franchise for a number of reasons, the main one being that there are just far too many for me to even wrap my head around. But also because it seems that these cinematic giants like the MCU aren’t focussed on putting out films that are actually good anymore, as they know they’ll attract millions of people at the box office even if the film is a bit crappy. 

Superhero movies, in my opinion, have lost their sense of novelty and the 'event factor' that surrounds cinema premieres. They’ve always been cash-grabbing opportunities, but it’s more obvious now than ever before and that’s what irritates me – as does the tabloid drama that surrounds them. Watching the trailer for The Franchise was like a deja vu moment, and it was reminiscent of movies like The Flash (2023), one which had a lot of potential but only garnered mass attention as a result of its production drama stories and Ezra Miller’s questionable behavior. 

Nonetheless, there’s something intriguing about the trailer for The Franchise that makes me want to lend it some of my time, despite my growing dislike for MCU and DC movies. Now that one of the biggest streaming services is coming forward with a show that will seemingly critique one of the most bankable and popular Hollywood franchises, I’m willing to partake in the discourse.  

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After years of rumors and leaks, the PlayStation 5 Pro has finally been officially revealed and, as expected, will be a huge hardware upgrade. This will lead to up to 45% faster rendering for gameplay, which will be leveraged by a number of supported titles.

According to a recent PlayStation Blog post, many games will take advantage of the PS5 Pro's power with many developers creating free software patches that allow recent releases to use its features. Games that offer enhanced PS5 Pro performance will be clearly labelled with a new 'PS5 Pro Enhanced' label. It seems safe to assume that this label will appear on the store pages or physical box of titles where it is applicable.

A selection of PS5 Pro Enhanced games have already been confirmed, including titles from both Sony and third-party developers. It is likely that even more compatible games will be confirmed soon but, at the time of writing, the list includes the following:

• Alan Wake 2
• Assassin’s Creed: Shadows
• Demon’s Souls
• Dragon’s Dogma 2
• Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth
• Gran Turismo 7
• Hogwarts Legacy
• Horizon Forbidden West
• Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
• Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart
• The Crew Motorfest
• The First Descendant
• The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered

The PS5 Pro will also offer PS5 Pro Game Boost, which will be compatible with some PS5 titles and more than 8,500 backwards compatible PS4 games. PS5 Pro Game Boost will stabilize or improve the performance of supported games, which could be an absolute gamechanger for more intensive older releases. Enhanced Image Quality will also be available for select PS4 games, improving their overall resolution.

The PS5 Pro is set to officially launch on November 7 and will cost $699.99 / £699.99 / around AU$1052.99. It will offer a 2TB SSD but will not include a disc drive. If you want to use any of your existing physical games, you will need purchase the separate Disc Drive for PS5 attachment, which is available now.

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Sony has confirmed the PS5 Pro release date and we won't have to wait long to get the most performant Sony games console.

The PlayStation 5 Pro release date is Thursday, November 7, 2024 in the US, UK, Japan, Canada, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, and South Korea, according to the official PlayStation blog post. 

Pre-orders for the mid-generation console begin on September 26.

Also confirming the PS5 Pro price, Sony has said the new system will cost $699.99 / £699.99 and around AU$1052.99. 

This represents a price gap of $200 / £200 / AU$253.99 between the Pro and the now-base version of the PS5. The pricing also makes this PS5 Pro Sony's most expensive console ever.

As well as confirming the release date, Sony also gave us a first look at the new console. You can see some pictures of it below.

Image 1 of 2

(Image credit: Sony)Image 2 of 2

(Image credit: Sony)

 It looks like the PS5 Pro will continue the white aesthetic of this generation of Sony machines, and also might feature swappable panels like both the base PS5 and PS5 Slim. That said, its overall design definitely leans closer to the PS5 Slim than the base PS5 model. This means that it will also be compatible with the existing Disc Drive for PS5 attachment, which is good news at the console does not come with a disc drive out of the box.

While some will continue to debate the need for such a mid-gen upgrade, there's no doubt that any kind of new console is always one of the most exciting times in gaming and we're absolutely here for it.

For a recap on what Mark Cerny revealed, you can see the full Technical Presentation on YouTube below.

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Sony has officially revealed the PS5 Pro console, confirming its existence, as well as a host of features about the mid-gen refresh such as specs, design, and capabilities.

The console had been heavily rumored for a long time, and after a steady stream of rumors and leaks occurring in the last couple of months, it's almost a relief to finally have something official from the gaming behemoth itself.

The PS5 Pro looks to be substantially more powerful than the base model, and presenter Mark Cerny was incredibly confident about its ability to keep the journey of the PS5 generation moving forward.

We got a clear look at the design of the PS5 Pro during the presentation, and we've included some pictures of it below.

Image 1 of 4

(Image credit: Sony)Image 2 of 4

(Image credit: Sony)Image 3 of 4

(Image credit: Sony)Image 4 of 4

(Image credit: Sony)

Sony has also confirmed the PS5 Pro release date and price as well as the PS5 Pro specs.

In brief, the console will launch on November 7 this year at $699.99 / £699.99 (around AU$1,052.99), with pre-orders starting on September 26.

The headline specs are that the GPU is now significantly upgraded at "67% more Compute Units" and 28% faster memory. That makes for roughly 45% faster rendering on average. The SSD has also seen an upgrade, and there is now to be 2TB of internal storage. For more on the console's specs head over to our dedicated page linked above.

There's going to be plenty of information to come on the new console in the run-up to its launch and we're super excited to see what it can bring to the best PS5 games going forward.

For a full recap of the presentation, you can check out the full presentation below if you're looking for a full recap of the announcement.

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The turbo-charged PS5 Pro has an amped-up GPU that can add up to higher-res gaming at greater frame rates. We went to PlayStation HQ to play; here's what to expect when it arrives Nov. 7.

In a CNET exclusive, I visited Sony's PlayStation headquarters to play the all-new PS5 Pro and ask Sony executives what makes this midcycle upgrade different.

AI-enhanced infrastructure software firm Progress, the company behind MOVEit, has announced its acquisition of ShareFile, an online document-centric collaboration and file-sharing platform designed for specific businesses such as those in the financial and healthcare sectors.

As part of the deal, Progress will benefit from the platform’s AI-powered collaboration workflows, client portal and e-signature technology.

Progress also anticipates adding more than $240 million in annual revenue to its books from ShareFile’s 86,000 customers.

Progress snaps up ShareFile

Progress CEO Yogesh Gupta commented: "ShareFile fits strategically with Progress’ Digital Experience portfolio to enable organisations to deliver more effective client and team collaboration while simplifying the secure sharing of documents and other content.”

The deal, worth around $875 million, is expected to close by November 30, subject to the usual regulatory approvals and closing conditions.

Thomas Krause, CEO of Cloud Software Group, ShareFile’s parent company, added: “For ShareFile customers, we firmly believe they will benefit from Progress’ deep customer commitment, extensive product portfolio, expertise and its expansive user community.”

This won’t be the first time that ShareFile has changed hands, though. Between its inception in 2005 and 2011, the platform amassed 40 million users. It was at that point that Citrix took ownership of the company before it went on to become Cloud Software Group’s property in 2023.

What the new ownership will mean for customers is unclear, but Progress appears to be committed to continuing the brand. Gupta noted: “ShareFile customers will benefit from Progress’ strong customer focus, expansive product portfolio and expertise as well as an unparalleled track record of customer success.”

Elsewhere in the industry, WeTransfer is also undergoing a radical shift. Just weeks after the platform was acquired by Italian tech firm Bending Spoons, it was confirmed that hundreds would be laid off as more than 75% would go.

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Hello and welcome to our live coverage of today's PlayStation 5 Technical Presentation, otherwise known as the likely reveal of the PS5 Pro console.

Wherever you are in the world, we're only a matter of a few hours away from the presentation with PS5 lead architect Mark Cerny, where we'll likely see a shiny new hardware member of the PlayStation family revealed at 8am PT / 11am ET / 4pm BST.

I'm here to provide a rundown of what we can expect, what we're hoping for, all the best rumors and details that have surfaced so far, and more. Let's get into it!

We're only ten minutes out from the presentation starting! We'll be taking you through all the ins and outs of the video itself and what Sony shows, as well as reminding you of a few key rumors that have cropped along our journey to this point.

While we all have an idea as to why we're all gathered here today, Sony did rather let slip as recently as yesterday...

Sony seemed to accidentally jump the gun in regards to the official PS5 Pro announcement. Ahead of today's Mark Cerny-hosted PlayStation 5 Technical Presentation, its as-of-now unlisted video bore the title of 'PS5 Pro' which sort of gives the game away.

We'll give Sony the benefit of the doubt and assume this was a mistake - with that 'PS5 Pro' video title potentially meant for after the presentation has aired. Seems a little too convenient though...

On TechRadar Gaming, we've got our own desires and wishes. I've asked my colleagues to share what they hope to see in the presentation.

"For PS5 Pro, it's not just performance that's key. It's optimization. In a reverse of what typically happens with console generations, we're seeing more recent big-ticket PS5 games perform relatively worse than those of earlier in the console's lifecycle. Titles like Horizon Forbidden West, Rise of the Ronin, and Star Wars Outlaws all struggled to maintain a smooth 60fps in their performance modes at launch.

This is something that I feel needs to be addressed with the PS5 Pro. More reliable performance for those who prefer higher framerates is a must here, along with a beefier internal SSD for speedier load times (and hopefully a bulkier 2TB capacity). Though as we're already seeing 40fps modes in titles like Star Wars Outlaws, aimed at folks with VRR-capable displays, there's potential for this to be the new standard going forward for big-budget AAA games."

Rhys Wood, hardware editor

Another one of us is hoping that it doesn't drop the disc drive in particular...

"Although many leaks have suggested that the PS5 Pro won't come with a disc drive, I'm optimistic that this won't mean the end of physical games quite yet. If rumors are to be believed, the PS5 Pro will have a very similar design to the PS5 Slim - which already has its own Digital Edition without a disc drive. 

Hopefully, this visual similarity means that the PS5 Pro will also be fully compatible with the existing Disc Drive for PS5 attachment, which enables full disc drive functionality in a PS5 Slim Digital Edition. Having to splash out $79.99 / £99.99 on a separate attachment after what is already likely to be quite an expensive PS5 Pro purchase would be a bit of a blow, but it would certainly be worthwhile if, like me, you already have an extensive physical game collection. Fingers crossed..."

Dash Wood, hardware writer

Only 30 second to go! Let's see what Mark Cerny has got for us!

Here's Mark! And he's confirmed that it is the PS5 Pro!

Mark Cerny begins by going over some of the best successes of the now-base PlayStation 5 so far from a technical aspect. He's talking about how the the Tempest Audio enhances our experience along with the Haptics in the DualSense, as well as the core hardware components of the machine.

The US Department of Energy (DoE) has announced a program that will see $23 million of funding funneled into supercomputing research and investment.

The New Frontiers initiative will look to address a number of bottlenecks in current supercomputer performance at US institutions, such as bandwidth and power consumption.

The DoE hopes that new and emerging technologies, and the help of private companies, can improve the performance of current and future supercomputers.

Power equals performance

Supercomputers have been boasting impressive metrics for some time, with the Argonne National Laboratory’s Aurora system passing the one quintillion floating point operations per second (exaFLOP) mark earlier this year. However this peak performance is hampered by restriction in bandwidth between each supercomputing chip, as well as the power required to sustain exaFLOP performance.

Leading the New Frontier program will be HPC Systems Engineer, Christopher Zimmer, of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Speaking on the power consumption of supercomputing, Zimmer said, “With Dennard scaling long dead and the slowing of Moore's law, we're seeing technologies critical to HPC consuming more power that partially offset increases in application performance due to improvements in silicon process nodes and improved packaging techniques.”

There has been no disclosure on which organizations or technologies will see investment from the New Frontier program, emerging technologies set to enter production within the next 5 to 10 years, such as improved packaging and photonics interconnects, are likely to be key in addressing bottlenecks.

In a statement on the announcement of the New Frontier program, Ceren Susut, associate director of the DoE's Office of Science for Advanced Scientific Computing Research said, “There is a growing consensus that urgent action is needed to address the array of bottlenecks in advanced computing, including energy efficiency, advanced memory, interconnects, and programmability to maintain economic leadership and national security.”

Via The Register

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Admit it, the sleeper hit of Apple's big Glowtime event in Cupertino on Monday was not the iPhone 16's Camera Control button, it was AirPods Pro 2's new clinical-grade, over-the-counter (OTC) hearing aid technology – in a trio of new features coming to your AirPods Pro 2. That was the moment I heard audible shock and unbridled applause, anyway. 

I have been accused in my home of having poor hearing. My hearing, as far as I know, is fine, I just have a focus problem. Maybe. In truth, I haven't been tested since I was a child. Now that I've reached a certain milestone age, most healthcare professionals recommend I have my ears tested at least every couple of years, if not more often. In the very near future, I might use my AirPods Pro 2 Bluetooth earbuds to test my hearing and then use them to adjust the sounds I hear based on the results.

Glowtime was the moment when your best earbuds officially transformed from your go-to music and podcast delivery device to an in-ear health system. The future updates, which include hearing protection, hearing loss, and hearing assistance are not surprising coming from Apple. A decade after Apple introduced its original wearable, the Apple Watch has transformed from a smartwatch that could ably deliver news, info, notifications, and support some exercise tracking to a full-blown health tracker (note the sleep apnea update). It's no wonder Apple's AirPods Pro 2 is on the same path.

These clinical-grade hearing tests and OTC hearing aid technology are not, interestingly enough, arriving on the new AirPods 4. The tests require the true seal of the AirPods Pro 2, which is now two years old but still capable of supporting Apple's innovative hearing assistance technology.

Apple airPods Pro 2 as hearing aids (Image credit: Future)

Since the company is still working on gathering FDA approval for the hearing test and OTC hearing aid feature, this update isn't expected immediately. However, when it does gain approval, the hearing test and hearing aid will arrive in over 100 countries and regions (hearing protection will initially only be available in the US and Canada).

Apple's approach to hearing health is pretty much the same as your doctor's: first test and then offer adjustments through in-ear technology. I got a chance to experience the hearing test, or at least a beta of the test, which requires AirPods Pro 2 and an updated iPhone or iPad.

The test will live under AirPods Pro control in settings on an iPhone or iPad. The software walks you through the process of first making sure that you have a proper fit on your AirPods Pro 2. If the earbuds are constantly falling out of your ears, that fit is not snug enough. Each pair of buds ships with a few different tip sizes. The app will play a tone that you hear and then tell you if your fit and seal are good enough to take the hearing test.

This being a demo, my fit test was good. Next, I started the hearing test. It immediately took me back to my childhood where a doctor put big earphones over my ears and told me to raise my hand when I heard a tone. I remember being nervous about what would happen if he played a tone and I failed to raise my hand.

In the app, a series of high-pitched tones played and I tapped the screen for each one I heard. Since this was a canned demo, my results, which appeared in seconds, told me I had moderate hearing loss. It was represented in left and right ear measurements that showed 41dbHL and 44 dbHL, respectively.

Apple airPods pro 2 hearing tests (Image credit: Future)

The app offers to link you to additional reading material about hearing loss or use the results to build a personal hearing profile that lives only on your devices but is shared across those you've signed into with your Apple account. This means that any Apple device you listen to will adjust to tones that make it possible for you to hear properly. You can aslso share the profile with your doctor.

If your hearing loss is progressive, you might take another test a year later and, if the results are different, Apple will update the hearing profile.

The work Apple does in the AirPods to adjust for hearing loss does not impact battery life, by the way, mainly because it's really just adjusting various features it already uses, like ANC, and transparency mode to support your hearing profile settings.

That said, AirPods 2 might have just 5 hours of battery life (up to 30 with the case). A traditional hearing aid could last up to 10 days. Of course, Apple isn't trying to replace prescribed hearing aids. The focus here is on moderate hearing loss, much of which goes untreated (undiagnosed, too expensive, the person doesn't want to go to a doctor to take a test).

I have no idea if I have hearing loss (my family is reading this right now shaking their heads in dismay) but I look forward to taking the test and knowing for sure. Perhaps I will start wearing my AirPods Pro 2s as OTC hearing aids and no one, not even my family, will be the wiser.

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The CrowdStrike update outage reinforced a number of concerns companies in the endpoint computing space have been voicing for some time. We’ve watched IT leaders greenlight major investments in modernizing security including identity and access management, secure accesses service edge (SASE), and network micro segmentation. Those are important investments but caused businesses to take their eyes off the prize: making sure that computing at the end user level, or endpoint device, is always available and secure.

We have grown somewhat numb to the steady stream of data breaches. This latest incident of a security vendor tasked with protecting users, their devices and data, and instead causing the largest cyber event in history, outlines that it’s not just security risks we must prepare for, but also update outages. To mitigate risks of all types at the endpoint, we must consider approaching the problem differently. We need to rethink the way Windows is delivered and managed, embrace SaaS (software-as-a-service), DaaS (desktop-as-a-service) and VDI (virtual desktop infrastructure) where applicable, and deliver a safe, endpoint desktop workspace that is much more in tune with how people work today. Equally important is examining the benefits of a purpose-built Linux OS, and its proven ability to deliver the most secure application environment.

Retooling windows

The CrowdStrike outage is compelling proof that Windows at the endpoint has reached a level of unmanageable complexity. Windows endpoints are inherently insecure, requiring a complex and costly security stack to be added to protect users, and their data. But the more agents you add – EDR, XDR, AV, backup, and recovery, DLP etc. – the more layers of security sprawl IT must manage, patch and monitor. This increases the chances of an outage event causing businesses to have to stop work and watch the productivity, reputational and financial losses add up.

Organizations that run their business applications at the Windows endpoint are highly vulnerable to these disruptions since they cannot quickly or easily recover their applications and data when a bug or outage occurs. A solution gaining traction is the movement of Windows to the cloud. Using SaaS or DaaS, both now very well-established technologies, enables organizations to rethink and modernize their Windows deployment strategy, making Windows installed at the endpoint unnecessary. It gives IT a means of centralizing desktops, applications and data in the cloud and greatly reduces the time-to-recovery for a breach or outage that previously impacted the endpoint.

As desktops and some applications move away from being locally installed on the endpoint, a simpler, secure by design endpoint OS can deliver the same workflows while maintain a great user experience, remove layers of added complexity and reduce the administrative burden on IT. Should an event occur, a centrally delivered cloud-based Windows OS, enables IT to rapidly recover critical applications and restore access for end users.

Windows 11 migration is another timely reason for considering moving Windows applications to the cloud. Leaving Windows at the endpoint, with the upgraded Windows 11 platform, will only continue the risk and leave end users once again open to productivity outages.

Alternative to windows

If there was a silver lining to the CrowdStrike outage, it highlighted and reinforced that allowing security vendors and their tools deep access to the Windows operating system can have severe consequences. We find in practice that Linux based OSes tend to fare better in mitigating many of these concerns and can be easier to recover if an event does occur. Many businesses, fortunately, are seeing the benefits in moving to a Linux based endpoint OS. Linux market share on the desktop is growing at an accelerated rate. Market research shows Linux adoption was 3% in July 2023, 4% in March 2024 and 4.45% in July 2024. Chrome OS is a distant 1.41%.

It should be noted that Linux and Windows are compatible. IT administrators use Linux-based endpoint devices to connect to Windows and Windows applications in the cloud. This leaves the Windows environment to be more centrally managed and controlled without the exposure and gaps that can be created when running Windows physically on endpoint systems. This reduces complexity and cost, while also significantly reducing the management burden on IT staff.

Linux natively supports web-based SaaS platforms like Office 365 and Salesforce; DaaS offerings like Microsoft AVD and Windows 365 Cloud PC, and VDI platforms such as Citrix and Omnissa.

Practices in prevention

The CrowdStrike outage is not a ‘who’s to blame?’ event. It could be repeated by any software vendor who has deep access into the OS. It is simply symptomatic of businesses lacking a comprehensive approach to their endpoint business continuity planning and placing too much trust in automatic updates working without critical change control and robust in-environment testing. In the case of this outage, the response and recovery were highly reactive. Each endpoint needed to be restored, which was a costly exercise. A more preventative approach is required and should start with an endpoint OS that is more secure, and more quickly recoverable in the event an incident does occur. Taking the weeks or months needed in today’s Windows model and reducing it to minutes.

As a preventative strategy against the next unintentional outage or ransomware attack, a purpose built and secure by design Linux OS is the answer. It must be fully centrally managed, and capable of supporting business continuity to rapidly get businesses up and running again. Using a Linux-based secure OS, such as IGEL OS, can also be rapidly recoverable with the ability to reset to a known good state on a reboot, mitigating many of the challenges with today’s Windows endpoint model. Read-only and fully encrypted, such Linux OS solutions can recover critical applications first and when paired with a cloud-based Windows computing environment can be the most effective preventative strategy.

Looking ahead, the proliferation of new applications, AI development and the constant need to be digitally competitive, will continue to add even more complexity and security challenges to IT operations. Despite best efforts, issues can and will occur. IT teams will welcome a change to more robust, simplified, and resilient systems that can prevent disruption and support recovery when needed.

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Near the end of the first quarter of 2023, Google and Yahoo! updated their bulk (5,000+ messages a day) email requirements with the intention of keeping inboxes safer and more spam-free.

Among the new requirements were making it easier to unsubscribe with a single mouse click and making sure their sending domains/IPs have valid forward and reverse DNS records.

This posed an issue for many marketers who thought they were already pursuing best practices with their existing one-click unsubscribe feature. These one-clicks are typically, an unsubscribe or an opt out link in the footer, which takes the subscriber to a landing page hosted on that sender's website that, for example, says, “Thank you. You have been unsubscribed, and we will opt you out within seven to 10 business days.”

They may have met the anti-spam and GDPR requirements, but not those of RFC 8058. Google and Yahoo! want insight into who is unsubscribing and that that unsubscribe is essentially being honored and being passed over in real time and through the ISP itself. RFC 8058 requires a specific email header called a List-Unsubscribe-Post header. This header field contains a URL that, when clicked, triggers the unsubscribe process on the sender's server.

So the unsubscribe now is in the header content of the email on delivery. The user has the ability, much like they did years ago when Gmail added the spam complaint button up in the header of messages, to opt out within the inbox, not just from the email itself.

Gmail, and Yahoo! recognize the "List-Unsubscribe-Post" header and present the unsubscribe link to the recipient in a clear and prominent way. Senders still have the option to return a landing page, but it can’t quite follow the familiar process of a preference page.

Though Gmail and Yahoo! are the first large email systems to require such a change, other platforms such as Microsoft (Hotmail and Outlook), MSN and other email platforms are expected to follow suit in 2025.

Marketing opportunity

With the unsubscribe button being so prevalent, recipients are going to be clicking “unsubscribe” much more frequently. So, the overall universe that marketers have to send out their messages will be much smaller. But rather than seeing that a detriment, marketers should look at it as an opportunity.

When it comes to deliverability, email engagement is very important. How your subscribers engage with your email is what matters most. For example, Google does not care if email recipients are going to your brand's website. What Google, Yahoo! and other email platforms care if a brand is sending daily emails, that are ignored, left in the spam folder or are deleted without being opened. Those results will affect delivery and sender reputation.

Marketers should also note if there is a significant difference in how unsubscribe is rendered from spam complaint. If an email recipient manually unsubscribes, it doesn’t affect a sender’s reputation and how the delivery of future messages. However, if the message is flagged as spam, the brand’s reputation (for emails) will be negatively impacted.

If the sender continues to saturate users who aren’t engaging with the emails, over time the sender will see declining open rates, yet the delivery rates look healthy on the surface. However, in these instances, many of the emails are going to spam and junk folders, so the recipients aren’t noticing them, even if they would be of interest.

Additionally, you may see an increase in your deferral percentage, meaning that Gmail and other platforms are sending everything through, effectively throttling your volume. So while you may be sending out 900,000 messages on a specific day, the email platform may parse that volume over three days. That’s a problem for time-sensitive material.

Automation to the rescue

Marketers should be using an email service provider (ESP) that provides detailed metrics that makes it easy to pinpoint any issues and how to rectify them. The ESP should provide details on your delivery rates in comparison to open rates, block rates, spam complaints, SMTP errors, etc.

It’s best to work with an ESP that uses dedicated IPs, making it relatively easy to troubleshoot any deliverability issues. There should be automated alerts for any identified issues. If you’re sending from a shared IP environment, then you are not just looking at your performance, gut also the performance of everyone that is using that set of IPs, which makes it more difficult to pinpoint any issues that are specific to you rather than to issues for the entire group of IP users.

Automation, by itself, isn’t enough to get the job done. A “human in the loop” is necessary as well. Every good sending platform has at least one employee who is managing the inbox performance or the delivery of the campaigns and messages, as well as the server-to-server connection for their clients. These EPS will provide proactive recommendations on how to avoid any current email issues in the future. Note that while some ESPs provide the human management “out of the box,” others require and additional fee for such a service.

A moving target

Marketers need to remember that the rules for email marketing is a constantly shifting target. Learning today’s rules and best practices serves as a knowledge base, but it isn’t the final word. Knowing email spam, opt-out and other rules and best practices is an ongoing process, not a “doing it once and you’re finished” exercise. As you’re reading this article, new rules are already being considered or are already being written.

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OpenAI reportedly counts one million paying business customers on its ChatGPT Enterprise, Team and Education subscriptions, the company has claimed.

The significant growth, as of September, marks a considerable increase from the 600,000 reported in April, and has been credited to continual advancements in the large language models powering the conversational generative AI chatbot, including the launch of GPT-4o earlier this summer.

Alongside paid business plans such as Team ($25 per month), personal plans like Plus ($20 per month) and the free tier look not to be included in the figure above.

ChatGPT has one million business customers

According to Bloomberg, many of the company’s million business users are located in the US, with the UK, Germany and Japan also contributing to the overall figures.

Moreover, OpenAI is reportedly exploring higher prices for subscriptions accessing upcoming, more advanced LLMs such as Strawberry and Orion. Early internal talks suggest prices could extend as high as $2,000 per month, according to an unnamed source familiar with the matter (via The Information).

On the lower end of the scale, the free ChatGPT tier is believed to be accessed by hundreds of millions of users every month.

As OpenAI continues to grow its ChatGPT services, more companies are paying closer attention. Joining Microsoft’s early multibillion-dollar investment in the startup, Apple and Nvidia are reportedly exploring investing in the company.

The latest fundraising round could see OpenAI reach a valuation of more than $100 billion, up from an estimated $80 billion in February when the ChatGPT-maker was planning to sell shares to Thrive Capital.

Despite occasional boasts, OpenAI remains a largely private company. The split of paying customers and how many users the platform has attracted on its consumer-focused subscriptions are not entirely known.

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