The Herald (South Africa)

Microsoft goes back to basics and how to counter revenge porn

- Bradley Millar is a technology adviser and founder of futureTECH – offering personal support in Port Elizabeth and abroad. Visit for the latest tech news or to make an appointmen­t.

Facebook instant articles Facebook on Tuesday took the wraps off a new feature it promises will yield faster load times for news stories and interactiv­e features on users’ mobile devices.

The new program will include a suite of features such as interactiv­e maps, image zoom, autoplay videos and audio captions.

“Fundamenta­lly, this is a tool that enables publishers to provide a better experience for their readers on Facebook,” Facebook chief product officer Chris Cox said. “Instant Articles lets them deliver fast, interactiv­e articles while maintainin­g control of their con- tent and business models.”

The move is aimed at keeping users more engaged on the world’s largest social network. Previously, users clicking on a news story on Facebook’s feed would be taken to the news publicatio­n’s website, adding additional time as that site loads and taking users away from the social network.

Facebook said it is launching the feature on its iPhone app but made no mention of when it would be available on its Android version. Revenge porn

One in 10 ex-partners have threat- ened to expose risque photos of their ex online.

Nonconsens­ual pornograph­y can destroy victims’ intimate relationsh­ips, as well as their educationa­l and employment opportunit­ies. Victims are routinely threatened with sexual assault, stalked, harassed, fired from jobs, and forced to change schools. Some victims have committed suicide.

Nonconsens­ual pornograph­y is frequently a form of domestic violence, as abusers threaten to ex-pose intimate pictures to prevent a partner from exiting a relationsh­ip, reporting abuse, or obtaining custody of children. It is also a tool of sex trafficker­s, who use compromisi­ng images to trap unwilling individual­s in the sex trade, as well as rapists who record images of sexual assaults to further humiliate victims and to discourage them from reporting the crime.

While nonconsens­ual pornograph­y affects both male and female individual­s, evidence to date indicates that the majority of victims are female, and that female victims often face more serious consequenc­es.

Nonconsens­ual pornograph­y – like domestic violence, rape, and sexual harassment – thus disproport­ionately harms women and girls and undermines gender equality.

Visit www.endrevenge­porn.org to find out more about this scourge and how effectivel­y to combat it. Windows 10 Mobile

Microsoft is killing off its Windows Phone brand, which has languished in the mobile market for the last five years. The company started distancing itself from both Windows Phone and the Nokia brand of its Lumia phones last fall.

Windows 10 Mobile, due out this summer, will run Microsoft’s so-called universal apps that are designed to work across all devices.

From 2000 to 2007, before the arrival of Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android, Windows Mobile was the world’s most popular mobile operating system. It ran mostly on personal data assistants, or PDAs, that preceded modern-day smartphone­s.

Microsoft hopes its new operating system will recapture some of that glory, thanks in part to the software’s ability to run on devices of all types and sizes. Microsoft on Wednesday also revealed the various iterations of Windows 10. ]

There’s Windows 10 Home for average consumers, a more feature-packed version to be called Windows 10 Pro, Windows 10 Enterprise for businesses, and Windows 10 Education for schools and universiti­es.

That’s it for today! Expect more from the world of technology next weekend!

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