Day: November 23, 2020

Windows 7 and Chrome: Google just extended support by six months

Google has decided to extend Chrome support for Windows 7 for another six months beyond its original plan in order to give customers more time if their Windows 10 migration plans were delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

In January, Google said Chrome support would continue until at least July 2021, but that was a few months before the pandemic struck. 

Google has now confirmed that Chrome will support Windows 7 until at least January 15, 2022. After that date customers can’t be guaranteed of receiving security updates for Chrome on Windows 7. 

SEE: Managing and troubleshooting Android devices checklist (TechRepublic Premium)

The extended support timeframe reflects the different effects the pandemic has had on IT projects and the use of technology in business. For example, in April Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said that the company had seen two years’ worth of digital transformation in two months as customers scrambled

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IBM takes the next step with Cloud Pak for Data

Ever since IBM unveiled Cloud Pak for Data as a cloud-native integrated set of analytics and AI platform, we’ve been wondering when IBM will take the next step and announce a full-blown managed cloud service. It’s now starting to happen as IBM is rolling out IBM Cloud Pak for Data as a Service.

Roll back the tape to last spring when we reviewed IBM Cloud Satellite; we noted that IBM’s primary cloud message has been about multi-cloud, or at least cloud-agnostic. Propelled by Red Hat OpenShift, IBM carved out such a strategy for this managed Kubernetes environment where you could deploy open source software yourself on the hardware or public cloud of your choice or choose IBM to run a managed OpenShift service for you in the IBM Cloud. That is about to get repeated with Cloud Pak for Data.

Cloud Pak for Data consists of an integrated set

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Birmingham, Dudley councils accelerate 5G roll-out

Providing further evidence that the West Midlands is driving 5G in UK, Birmingham City Council and Dudley Council have signed what they call landmark lease agreements with Mobile Broadband Network Limited (MBNL) and fellow UK mobile infrastructure services company Cornerstone to accelerate the roll-out of 5G network infrastructure under the guidance of West Midlands 5G (WM5G).

MBNL and Cornerstone are the key infrastructure providers for mobile network operators EE, Vodafone, Telefónica (O2) and Three, which hold 5G licences in the UK. WM5G is backed by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and the West Midlands Combined Authority and in March 2020 delivered the UK’s first region-wide 5G testbed and accelerators as part of a consortium led by O2.

WM5G believes that at least 2,000 private sector businesses and public sector organisations in the West Midlands and beyond will benefit from using the 5G accelerators over the next five

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CoStar, which provides commercial real estate information and analytics, says it will buy Homesnap, an app that improves real estate agent workflows, for $250M (Peter Grant/Wall Street Journal)


Peter Grant / Wall Street Journal:

CoStar, which provides commercial real estate information and analytics, says it will buy Homesnap, an app that improves real estate agent workflows, for $250M  —  Purchase would mark the company’s first significant step into residential data  —  CoStar Group, Inc., one of the world’s largest providers … … Read More