Red Hat introduced the official release of Red Hat Device Edge, a solution designed to facilitate the deployment of edge devices. This offering comprises a specially optimized edge operating system and a supported distribution of the Kubernetes project known as MicroShift, providing customers with two deployment choices.

“We believe the future of developer productivity depends on the continued evolution and innovation of projects like Backstage, and we’re focused on making this future a reality through contributions that help simplify, extend and accelerate the development process. Donating these plug-ins to the Backstage community is a reflection of Red Hat’s commitment to helping developers meet the demands of today as they innovate for tomorrow”, said Balaji Sivasubramanian, senior director of Developer Tools Product Management at Red Hat.

Red Hat emphasizes the advantages of Red Hat Device Edge, which encompass a minimal resource footprint, a uniform operational experience, flexible workload management, and simplified deployment processes.

Red Hat has rolled out Red Hat OpenShift 4.14, the most recent iteration of its platform. This update introduces the general availability of hosted control planes, offering a range of benefits such as reduced management expenses, quicker cluster provisioning, enhanced scalability, and increased security through the separation of control planes from workloads. According to Red Hat, the adoption of hosted control planes can result in substantial cost savings, with a potential 30% reduction in infrastructure costs and a 60% reduction in developer time.

In addition, the organization shared its contribution of five new plugins to Backstage, a framework designed for constructing developer portals. These newly added plugins are designed to integrate with technologies like Azure Container Registry, JFrog Artifactory, Kiali, Nexus, and 3scale.

Lastly, Red Hat introduced Ansible Inside, enabling developers to incorporate Ansible Playbooks within their applications. This feature caters to customers seeking to integrate automation into their applications without the need for the full spectrum of capabilities provided by the Ansible Automation Platform.

Apart from its modern look, the operating system introduces several productivity-focused features and enhancements such as Snap Layouts, Windows Subsystem for Android, better support for external displays, Windows Widgets and more. However, Windows 21H2 was not received very well by the general audience and many PCs failed to make the switch from Windows 10 to 11, and users disliked the redesigned taskbar and Start menu, which lacked many features, according to users, due to the rushed release of the version.

Although Microsoft spent two years perfecting the 21H2 version and fixing the biggest inaccuracies, it decided to discontinue its support and focus on the latest version of Windows 11 – 22H2, which is claimed to be many times better.

If your computer is still running Windows 11 version 21H2, you can update to 22H2 and the Moment 3 update.

You can also download Moment 4, an optional non-security update with several long-awaited features, such as taskbar regrouping, a redesigned volume slider, native RGB controls, Copilot, and more.
Microsoft will automatically update most Windows 11 users to the Moment 4 update in November 2023. Click here to learn how to install Windows 11 Moment 4.

Microsoft is expected to release Windows 11 version 23H2 with almost zero changes later this year. It will get two years of support, both the original version and version 22H2.

Two new features are now available in Intune. The first has to do with configuring feature updates. This allows IT administrators to create policies that control which Windows feature updates are delivered to devices. Devices will remain on the version they have specified in their policy until IT administrators set a newer version of Windows in this section.

Some other useful settings that you can configure are to choose whether the update becomes available immediately, on a specific date, or through a staged rollout. The latter option also allows you to choose when the first and last groups will receive the update, as well as the interval of days between them.

The second option mentioned above is accelerated quality updates. But there are a few settings to watch out for. One lets you choose the minimum OS version that all devices should be on, and the other lets you decide how long a device can delay an update before needing a reboot. But be careful when using the former. It only gives users a 15-minute warning after downloading the update before forcibly installing it via reboot.

Deployment of expedited updates is done without the need to pause or edit your existing monthly servicing policies. For example, you might expedite a specific update to mitigate a security threat when your normal update process wouldn’t deploy the update for some time.

Expedite updates uses available services, like WNS and push notification channels, to deliver the message to devices that there’s an expedited update to install. This process enables devices to start the download and install of an expedited update as soon as possible, without having to wait for the device to check in for updates.

But that’s not all. You can also track delivery reports on feature updates and accelerated quality updates. You can find these in the Reports tab, then select Windows updates in the Microsoft Endpoint Manager Administration Center. They display alerts, device-level granularity information, and overall results.

Users will be able to run Android applications on Windows and this is one of the most expected features. Chrome OS and macOS already support the feature and now Microsoft is planning to roll out a preview which will represent its Android applications for Windows 11. The public preview will be available in February.

Also, Google is now working on an app which will give you an opportunity to play Android games on your PC.

Which are the other features? 

Some of them include the returning of the weather widget. Not only that but the Notepad and Media Player will also be updated. For example, the Notepad will be provided with a dark mode. There will also be an option which will allow you to share your screen to other remote users.

Despite everything, the date of the release is not revealed yet.

Amanda Langowski, Microsoft’s Insider chief, says:

“These new flyouts will appear when you press the volume or brightness keys on your laptop and will honor light/dark mode to give you a more coherent Windows experience”

Also, the company will give a chance for users to test a new call experience in the Your Phone application on Windows 11. Langowski explains that this update includes a new in-progress call window with updated icons, fonts, and some other UI changes which adjust with the improved design of Windows 11.

Some other changes will allow you to uninstall the Clock application if you want to, as this option was unavailable until now, or to enjoy the extension of touch keyboard themes to the emoji panel.

However, there is no information given about when these features will be available for all users, but it is expected that at some point this year, everyone will get access to them.

Many of you may know that BusKill works for about two years as a “DIY” project. Anyone who has the software at his disposal, could compile the source code. However, this worked only on Linux and the components sold out really fast.

Now, the cable is available to be bought starting at $59. It comes with an accompanying application that works on macOS, Windows and Linux. Not only that but it allows users to easily activate and deactivate the cable with only one touch of a button. Michael Altfield, who is the project’s creator commented in an interview:

“Most people aren’t handling top-secret documents from whistleblowers and are worried about the secret police knocking down their doors, but that’s the level of risk that I designed BusKill for. And I wanted it to be accessible to journalists who don’t necessarily use Linux and don’t know how to use the CLI (command line interface)”

BusKill is designed to lock the computer when it is physically separated from you. However, Linux users can configure the application to trigger a self-destruct command and as a result the device’s cryptographic keys which are rendering the computer’s data will be inaccessible for a few seconds.

Also, the project has a plan to launch triggers which will shut down the computer when the magnetic cable is severed.

There are some new features but maybe the most remarkable one is the new design which is simple and really convenient even though visually it is similar to Mac OS. The Start menu is now centered but if you don’t like the way it looks, you can move it back to the left anytime you want.

Another big change is setting up the virtual desktops which is now easier than ever. In Windows 10 this was really hard but now you can easily switch over between your personal, school or gaming desktops.

Not only that but Windows 11 has new features named Snap Groups and Snap Layouts.  What are they like? Well, they represent some kind of collection of all the applications you use. They are placed in the taskbar and give an opportunity of easier task switching by minimizing, and the best part of it is that you can’t lose the windows you have opened.

During the pandemic Teams turned out to be one of the most used applications for online education. That’s why now it gets a facelift and it is placed directly into the taskbar which allows you easier access to it. We can’t miss mentioning that this feature looks more like Apple’s FaceTime.

When it comes to tablets, Microsoft left more space between the icons in order to improve the experience for its users. With adding tactiles to the digital pen, Windows 11 now allows you to feel the vibrations while using it for writing or drawing. One of the best features is the opportunity for voice typing and commands across the system.

Last but not least, we can’t neglect the changes which may make most of the gamers happy. There will be an Auto HDR and DirectStorage in order to improve your gaming experience on your PC and Xbox consoles.

To recall, Samsung Galaxy Note 8 was launched in 2017. The smartphone was one of the initial phones to come with dual rear cameras, a trend gaining momentum back then. It contributed to the popularity of the Galaxy Note series to a great extent with its design and features.

However, the handset was not on the company’s list of devices getting three Android operating system upgrades. During its life cycle, the smartphone received two OS updates and was restricted to Android 9.

But Samsung has released four years of security updates on the Galaxy Note 8. The smartphone was recently updated with the August Android security patch. It now appears that this was the last update the phone was eligible for.

No Galaxy Note series this year

Samsung has already announced that it will not bring any Galaxy Note series smartphones this year. Citing global chip shortage and clash with the existing products, the company decided to give Galaxy Note 21 a miss. To compensate for the Galaxy Note fans and to offer a premium S Pen experience, the South Korean tech giant has rolled out S Pen support in the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra and the Galaxy Z Fold 3. A report recently suggested that the company may skip the Galaxy Note series launch in the upcoming year 2022 as well.

The final beta update is also a release candidate build, which means this build should graduate to stable status. The stable release is still a few weeks away, according to Google, so there’s still time for them to catch any bugs that arise following today’s release.

You can download Android 12 Beta 5 today on all compatible Pixel phones, including the newly released Pixel 5a. Google’s web page provides links to all of the Android 12 Beta programs run by other smartphone makers, such as Sharp.

Apple’s expanding product range

Apple often likes to position itself as a big company with an internal culture similar to a startup, but I do not know of any early-stage firms where the product matrix has grown so vast that they must actively consider multiple launch events.

It’s a very long way from Apple circa 1999, when Steve Jobs was able to describe Apple in a quadrant based on notebook and desktop, consumer, and pro product segments. While all of Apple’s products still just about fit in one table, the table is larger, and the company needs to schedule more time to discuss them all.

At today’s Apple, not only have the divisions between different quadrants become much more elastic, but the product range has expanded with wearables, services, a streaming TV offer, pro and consumer software, mobile devices and smartphones, with further product category expansion expected, particularly around health, AR, and transportation.

Apple also hosted multiple events last year, introducing the Apple Watch and new iPads in September, following up with the iPhone 12 and HomePod mini in October, and then blowing our minds with the first Apple Silicon Macs in November. That Apple now plans multiple launch events again makes sense, given how much it has to talk about. What do we expect the company to introduce?

Apple’s products this fall may include…

• iPhone 13: 5.4-, 6.1- and 6.7-inch models as with iPhone 12. A smaller notch, faster A15 processor and improved AMOLED display. Expect cinematic video, photographic styles using AI to improve highlights, shadows, and so on. The device is expected to see strong demand and to boast more support for mmWave and maybe an in-screen Touch ID sensor.
• iPad (Ninth generation): Slimmer bezels, larger display, faster A13 Bionic processor.
• iPad mini 6: Slimmer bezels and larger display, faster processor.
• iOS, tvOS, iPad OS, macOS, and watchOS.
• 14- and 16-inch M1X MacBook Pro, revamped design, mini-LED displays, MagSafe and more.
• Apple Watch Series 7: Redesigned with faster display and processors.
• Third-generation AirPods, more like AirPods Pro with better audio technology.
• A push behind Foundation and Apple TV.

The likely sequence might be:

September: iPhone event with AirPods and a push toward Apple TV.

October: An iPad event with Apple Watch and a push toward services, focused around health and fitness.

November: A Mac event, with a focus on pro apps and more insight into the company’s work around Apple Silicon.

Alternatively, Apple Insider speculates two events may take place in September, one featuring the new iPhone, another starring Apple’s other incoming products.

What’s coming for the enterprise?

While interest in the all-new iPhone is guaranteed, business purchasers will certainly want to look at the refreshed entry-level iPad and MacBook Pro.

For many, the new iPad with its faster processor and promised tight integration with Macs (Universal Control) will become a viable choice for deployment among mobile workers. We are already seeing mass deployment of M1-powered iPad Pro models, such as a recently announced move to equip all Delta Airlines pilots with these. For tasks where that level of performance is less critical, education and some enterprise markets may see the improved entry-level iPad as a viable choice. That iPad is meant to offer a similar look to that of Apple’s impressive iPad Air. Will it match its performance, too?

The M1X-powered MacBook Pros will enter an enterprise market in which Mac adoption is accelerating pace. Mass Mutual, ItalGas and Grab all recently confirmed major deployments, and they aren’t alone. Faster performance and industry-leading battery life will only reinforce that trend, and many executives will want to see what difference these machines might make to them.