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Showing posts from July, 2025

Hybrid cloud vs ransomware: why resilience starts with the right data strategy

Web Hosting & Remote IT Support Ransomware has become a defining cybersecurity threat, increasing in scale, sophistication, and cost. In the UK alone, recent months have seen a wave of high-profile incidents disrupting everything from retail and logistics to public services – with consequences that reach far beyond the IT department. Take the case of Marks & Spencer. A major breach in April 2025 exposed customer data, triggered widespread operational disruption, and is already slated to have cost the company £300 million – apart from the billion pounds or more the incident has wiped from the retailer’s stock market value. At Co-op, a ransomware-linked outage halted critical systems. The Legal Aid Agency suffered a breach of sensitive legal and financial records. Meanwhile, even Harrods and logistics firm Peter Green Chilled weren’t spared. These are not isolated events - they’re signals of a broader shift. The UK retail industry alone lost over £2.2 billion to shoplifting...

From presence to purpose in the hybrid era

Web Hosting & Remote IT Support In today’s hybrid workplaces, productivity is often mistaken for busyness. It sounds like clacking keyboards, looks like back-to-back video calls, and pings endlessly with notifications. But most of the time, these are just indications of activity, not achievement, and the pressure to be constantly visible has quietly overtaken the drive to be effective and productive. But real work isn’t always ‘observable’. Some of the most valuable thinking happens away from the keyboard, in deep focus and genuine creative collaboration. If we want to drive better outcomes for both people and businesses, it’s time to shift our benchmark from hours logged to energy invested. This isn’t a call for a new metric to be tracked and reported. It’s a mindset shift. It asks leaders to look inwardly, to examine where their teams’ energy is going and then consider whether it’s moving them forward as a company, or just simply keeping things in motion. The rise of perfo...

How AI is finally erasing the security vs. experience tradeoff that has plagued enterprise IT for decades

Web Hosting & Remote IT Support IT teams know the balancing act all too well. Security teams implement new protocols that generate a flood of user complaints. The IT help desk is overwhelmed with tickets that could have been prevented. Meanwhile, employees bypass carefully designed systems because they're too cumbersome. And today's increasingly distributed workforce only exacerbates this balancing act, creating a larger attack surface across more devices, locations, and applications. While IT management may have accepted this as the inevitable reality, the challenges are only intensifying. AI-powered cyberattacks are becoming more sophisticated daily, capable of adapting faster than traditional security measures can respond. The old playbook of treating security, IT operations, and employee experience as separate functions has reached its breaking point. A unified approach is needed, or IT leaders risk not only making their organization at risk for security vulnera...

AI and machine learning projects will fail without good data

Web Hosting & Remote IT Support Generative AI is a headline act in many industries, but the data powering these AI tools plays the lead role backstage. Without clean, curated, and compliant data, even the most ambitious AI and machine learning (ML) initiatives will falter. Today, enterprises are moving quickly to integrate AI into their operations. According to McKinsey, in 2024, 65% of organizations reported regularly using generative AI, marking a twofold increase from 2023. However, the true potential of AI and ML in the enterprise won’t come from surface-level content generation. It will come from deeply embedding models into decision-making systems, workflows, and customer-facing processes where data quality, governance, and trust become central. Additionally, simply incorporating AI and ML features and functionality into foundational applications won’t do an enterprise any good. Organizations must leverage all aspects of their data to create strategic advantages that he...

Even AI agents aren’t immune to silos

Web Hosting & Remote IT Support AI agents, the much-touted next phase of generative AI, have commanded enterprises’ attention. Right now, 61% of business leaders are actively adopting AI agents, according to a recent survey by my organization – with ambitious plans to scale them organization-wide. The fixation is justified: agents can work autonomously, navigate complex workflows, learn from experience, and leverage other software as tools. They are a step change from AI that talks with you, like chatbots , to AI that works for you. The result is major productivity: Gartner estimates that by 2028, agents will automate 15% of day-to-day business decisions. But business leaders shouldn’t mistake agents’ sophistication with omnipotence. Agents can fall into the same traps as older, less sophisticated software – including dreaded IT silos. Battling silos For decades, IT professionals have battled silos: applications, databases , and other systems that aren't interoperable. In...

AMD Threadripper Pro 9995WX goes on sale at Amazon and Newegg — for as little as $11699 you can get the world's fastest CPU but I don't think it's worth it

Web Hosting & Remote IT Support Ryzen Threadripper Pro 9995WX now on sale with Zen 5, 96 cores, 192 threads AMD’s most powerful workstation CPU available from major retailers for $11,699 Most professionals won’t need the 9995WX despite the impressive specs The AMD Ryzen Threadripper Pro 9995WX is now available to buy from major retailers, including Amazon and Newegg , with a starting price of $11,699 - much cheaper than initial predictions . It’s the top chip in AMD’s new Threadripper Pro 9000 WX-series and is built on the latest Zen 5 architecture, sporting 96 cores, 192 threads, and offers a boost clock of up to 5.4GHz. The 9995WX uses TSMC’s 4nm process and fits the sTR5 socket. The CPU supports 8-channel DDR5-6400 memory, offers up to 148 PCIe lanes, and carries a 350W TDP. For professional workloads This processor is aimed at professional workloads that can scale across dozens of threads. AMD lists compatibility with chipsets like Pro 695, TRX50, and WRX90. The c...

The Devil Wears Prada 2: everything we know so far about the Anne Hathaway and Meryl Streep sequel

Web Hosting & Remote IT Support The Devil Wears Prada 2: key information - Filming began in July 2024 after the 2013 sequel script was shelved - Releasing May 1, 2026, no trailer yet - Production began on June 30, 2025 - Anne Hathaway, Meryl Streep, Emily Blunt and Stanley Tucci are all returning - Kenneth Branagh, Simone Ashley, Lucy Liu, and Justin Theroux among newbies cast - Plot follows Miranda Priestly's career decline as she faces off against Emily Charlton's luxury ad business The Devil Wears Prada 2 is officially a go. Almost two decades after the release of the original movie, the sequel is actually happening. I don't mean to be a hater, but Vanessa Williams keeping the IP alive through a musical just isn't cutting it for me. If you were a fellow tween in the 2000s, Disney's The Devil Wears Prada was one of the cinematic moments of the decade. You know all of Miranda Priestly's (Meryl Streep) iconic lines by heart, you watched the ...

Next-gen iPhone CPU could be 500x more powerful than the SoC in the original iPhone

Web Hosting & Remote IT Support iPhone chip performance has improved 385x since 2007 launch, according to benchmarks A17 and A18 chips in iPhone 16 models continue Apple’s efficient performance trend Next-gen iPhone could push CPU performance past 500x original iPhone processor A new investigation from PC Watch has compared the performance of Apple’s smartphone chips over time, and found the iPhone CPU has improved by 384.9x since the original model launched in 2007. The analysis used Geekbench data to track performance across generations, estimating an average annual improvement rate of around 40%. Based on that trajectory, the next-generation iPhone 17 Pro, expected later in 2025, could push that figure past the 500x mark. More performance-focused The original iPhone, which Steve Jobs launched back in 2007, was powered by a ARM11-based SoC from Samsung. That chip had a rated frequency of 620MHz but it actually ran at just 412MHz. For the iPhone 3GS, released two year...

Mayor of Kingstown season 4: everything we know so far about the hit Paramount+ show's return

Web Hosting & Remote IT Support Mayor of Kingstown season 4: key information - Officially renewed in December 2024 - Coming to Paramount+ in October - Main cast expected to return - New characters confirmed - No official plot details - Taylor Sheridan has seven seasons in mind Mayor of Kingstown season 4 returns in October, which is no doubt excellent news for fans of the crime thriller. Spearheaded by Yellowstone 's Taylor Sheridan alongside Hugh Dillon, it's one of the best shows on Paramount+ and there's plenty more where that came from. Viewers have watched the McClusky family position themselves as power brokers acting as the go-between for police, criminals, inmates, prison guards and politicians. And leading the McClusky family? Mike (Jeremy Renner) as he navigates Kingstown, a place with a real lack of order, in hopes of digging his way out. Here's everything we can expect from release date speculation, predicted cast, plot rumors, and more....

We've just had our first official look at DJI's first robot vacuum – and I have questions

Web Hosting & Remote IT Support A few days ago, we got our first official look at the DJI Romo – the brand's first foray into robot vacuums – and the more information I get about this surprising new addition to the DJI lineup, the more intrigued I am about how it's going to shape up when it comes to launch. It certainly looks cool. Both the video clip shared by tech leaker Igor Bogdanov (aka @Quadro_News ) and the teaser trailer DJI leaker @JasperEllens show the curvy dock with a transparent plastic cover – and if you look closer, you can see that the bot itself appears to have a clear lid too. It's an unusual design choice and one that'll certainly stand out against competitor models, even if I do have my concerns about how pristine-looking that it'll remain over time (perhaps it's good that DJI seems to be offering a version that doesn't have its insides on show as an alternative). Although a DJI logo is nowhere to be found on the product and i...

First AMD Ryzen Threadripper Pro 9995WX workstation PC goes on sale for just over $20,000 - but it's not from HP, Lenovo or Dell

Web Hosting & Remote IT Support VRLA Tech workstation is first to ship with AMD Ryzen Threadripper Pro 9995WX System is built on ASUS WRX90E board with 128GB ECC memory and 1TB NVMe storage Supports up to three high-end GPUs including options like the Nvidia RTX 6000 Ada The first workstation powered by AMD’s new Ryzen Threadripper Pro 9995WX processor has gone on sale, and it comes not from a major PC maker, but from California-based custom builder VRLA Tech. The VRLA Tech AMD Ryzen Threadripper Pro Workstation is available with a choice of processors from the Pro 9000 WX-Series, including AMD’s top-tier 9995WX. Built on the 4nm Zen 5 architecture, the 9995WX features 96 cores and 192 threads, with a 2.75GHz base clock and boost speeds up to 5.1GHz. It includes 384MB of L3 cache and supports 8-channel DDR5-6400 ECC RDIMM memory. (Image credit: VRLA Tech) Highly customizable The default configuration, priced at $20,334.97, pairs the CPU with an ASUS Pro WS WRX...

40 years ago, Steve Jobs was fired from Apple – but it made Macs better than ever

Web Hosting & Remote IT Support “It turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me.” You wouldn’t expect to hear that from Steve Jobs, a man famous for his short temper and strong opinions. Yet as it turns out, being removed from his own company transformed Jobs, helping him grow into the creative force that, years later, would spawn world-changing products like the iPhone , the iPod, and the best Macs and MacBooks . His ouster went down 40 years ago in 1985, and it’s worth looking back on what happened at that time and how it changed Jobs – and Apple, and perhaps even the wider computing world – for the better. Far from being the end of the road for Jobs, this was just the beginning. After leaving Apple, he founded another computer company, NeXT, and later took the helm at Pixar. Under his watch, it became the foremost animation studio on the planet. In his absence, Apple lost its way, churning out uninspired products and comin...

'The Fantastic Four: First Steps' ending and post-credit scenes explained: how does it set up 'Avengers: Doomsday' and more big Marvel questions answered

Web Hosting & Remote IT Support Full spoilers follow for The Fantastic Four: First Steps . The Fantastic Four: First Steps has achieved lift off in theaters – and I imagine you have plenty of questions about the Marvel movie's ending and its post-credits scenes. Below, I'll do my best to answer your biggest questions about the first Marvel Phase 6 project, including how it sets up the next Avengers film, aka Avengers: Doomsday . So, here's your final warning: major spoilers immediately follow for First Steps . Turn back now if you haven't seen it yet. What happens to Galactus and The Silver Surfer in The Fantastic Four: First Steps? What becomes of Galactus and his Herald during First Steps' climax? (Image credit: Marvel Studios) They're transported to the furthest reaches of the alternate universe – designated Earth-828 – that The Fantastic Four reside in. Without his planet-devouring space vessel, it'll take the now-stranded Galac...