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Submission + - Microsoft gives Office 365 a major upgrade (networkworld.com)

Miche67 writes: As part of the July 2016 update to Office 365, Microsoft is adding several features across the board — Word, PowerPoint and Outlook.

Word, however, is getting the biggest new features — Researcher and Editor — to improve your writing.

As its name implies, Researcher is designed to help the user find reliable sources of information by using the Bing Knowledge Graph to search for sources, and it will properly cite them in the Word document.

[Editor] builds on the already-existing spellchecker and thesaurus to offer suggestions on how to improve your overall writing. In addition to the wavy red line under a misspelled word and the wavy blue line under bad grammar, there will be a gold line for writing style.

The new features are expected to be available later this year.

Submission + - We need a better Private Browsing Mode (networkworld.com)

Miche67 writes: Many browsers have some type of 'private' browsing. The settings aren't enough, though, to offer real protection.

As this writer says, Chrome's Incognito Mode "doesn't offer strong protection at all," and Firefox's Private Browsing with Tracking Protection — while stronger than Chrome — is an all-or-nothing option. "You can’t turn it off for sites you trust, but have it otherwise enabled by default."

Every single link to non-trusted websites should open, by default, in a Private/Incognito window. C'mon, browser makers, get this done.


Submission + - Microsoft targets the iMac with new PCs, reports say (networkworld.com)

Miche67 writes: Two reports say Microsoft is working on an all-in-one (AIO) PC under the Surface brand. If that’s true, it would put it in competition with HP and Dell, which have their own AIO lines, as well as put it in competition with Apple's iMac.

Both DigiTimes and Windows Central picked up on the story, each citing their own sources. DigiTimes, a Taiwan-based publication with connections to the PC industry over there (but also a very mixed record of accuracy) said the new devices would come in the third quarter of this year. Windows Central, which is a little better when it comes to rumors, said it did not have a solid release date.


Submission + - Is the 'secret' chip in Intel CPUs really that dangerous? (networkworld.com)

Miche67 writes: A recent Boing Boing blog post by Damien Zammit is stirring up fears, claiming Intel's x86 processors have a secret control mechanism that no one can audit or examine. And because of that, he says it could expose systems to undetectable rootkit attacks that cannot be killed.

Blogger Andy Patrizio, after talking with an Intel spokesperson, says the developer's argument has holes and he doesn't think Zammit will persuade Intel to replace the system with a free, open source option.

So, what we have is an open source crusader scaring the daylights out of people (just look at his headline) on a giant what-if scenario that even he admits couldn't happen in our lifetimes.


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