Released officially last week, Windows 11 22H2 offers a number of new features and options, though many aren’t yet available — Microsoft will be “dribbling” out changes throughout the coming year. The much-touted Windows File Explorer tabs, for example, has not yet rolled out, but the items released do include Enhanced Phishing Protection, which is available to consumers as well as businesses. (To take advantage of the new reporting and alerts, you do need a license to the Microsoft 365 security portal, which is included in a Microsoft 365 E5 license, or a Microsoft 365 business premium license. The latter is a specific license for companies with fewer than 300 seats.)

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Computerworld has compiled a list of upcoming technology events for the IT industry taking place in the following weeks and months.

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The Apple-in-the-enterprise story continues to unfold, this week with Jamf's announced plans to acquire mobile threat detection and response company ZecOps.

Already consumer-simple, Jamf becomes government secure

Jamf will likely reveal more about the motivations behind the deal at its JNUC event for Apple admins, which begins tomorrow. The purchase is the latest move by the Apple-focused enterprise MDM provider to supplement device management with an increasingly effective set of tools to bolster device security.

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The largest multinational four-day workweek experiment to date has reached the midway point in the UK, and feedback from participating organizations indicates most hope to retain a 32-hour workweek after their pilot ends.

The experiment is being run by the 4 Day Week Global coalition in collaboration with researchers at Cambridge University, Boston College, and the University of Oxford. With a few exceptions, most companies taking part in the project are smaller firms.

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Macworld Executive Editor Michael Simon and Ken Mingis, executive editor at Computerworld, go over the high points of the new iPhone 14 Pro Max. Standouts include the "Dynamic Island" and always-on display.

Jamf has teamed up with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to introduce new tools that let IT admins using Jamf Pro enroll virtual EC2 Macs when they are provisioned via the AWS portal.

It means even virtual Macs can have all the security, policy, and access controls you’d expect from the Mac on your home or office desk when enrolled.

This is news because?

We know AWS is one of the world’s biggest cloud services firms — it has such a major presence that it is seen as a “hypervisor." Amazon began offering Mac instances in the cloud in 2020 and ramped this offer up with the later addition of M1 Mac minis as a service through AWS.

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If there's one feeling all of us phone-carrying cuttlefish can relate to, it's the sense of anxiety when that dreaded low-battery warning shows up on our screens.

Both Android itself and Google's Pixel phones, specifically, have gotten much better at managing battery life over the years. But some of the Pixel's most intelligent systems for safeguarding your stamina are options in your phone's software — and that means it's up to you to find 'em.

Google's Pixel software is absolutely overflowing with those sorts of out-of-sight treasures, so to continue our ongoing Pixel settings explorations, I want to spelunk our way into some of your device's most advanced options for stretching your battery life to the max.

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Windows 11 has been released, but behind the scenes, Microsoft is constantly working to improve the newest version of Windows. The company frequently rolls out public preview builds to members of its Windows Insider Program, allowing them to test out — and even help shape — upcoming features.

The Windows Insider program is divided into three channels:

• The Dev Channel is where new features are introduced for initial testing, regardless of which Windows release they’ll eventually end up in. This channel is best for technical users and developers and builds in it may be unstable and buggy.
• In the Beta Channel, you’ll get more polished features that will be deployed in the next major Windows release. This channel is best for early adopters, and Microsoft says your feedback in this channel will have the most impact.
• The Release Preview Channel typically doesn’t see action until shortly before a new feature update is rolled out. It’s meant for final testing of an upcoming release and is best for those who want the most stable builds.

The Beta and Release Preview Channels also receive bug-fix builds for the currently shipping version of Windows 11.

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A Windows launch isn’t the end a process — it’s really just the beginning. As with Windows 10, Microsoft continually works on improving Windows 11 by fixing bugs, releasing security patches, and occasionally adding new features.

In this story we summarize what you need to know about each update released to the public for the most recent version of Windows 11. For each build, we’ve included the date of its release and a link to Microsoft’s announcement about it. The most recent updates appear first.

The easiest way to install updates is via Windows Update. Not sure how? See “How to handle Windows 10 and 11 updates” for full instructions. Note that Windows 11 version 22H2 is being released as a phased rollout and may not be available to you in Windows Update yet.

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The launch of a major Windows 10 update isn’t the end of a process — it’s really just the beginning. As soon as one of Microsoft’s feature updates (such as Windows 10 version 21H2) is released, the company quickly gets to work on improving it by fixing bugs, releasing security patches, and occasionally adding new features.

In this story we summarize what you need to know about each update released to the public for the most recent versions of Windows 10 — versions 21H2, 21H1, 20H2, and 2004. (Microsoft releases updates for those four versions together.) For each build, we’ve included the date of its initial release and a link to Microsoft’s announcement about it. The most recent updates appear first.

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Recently, my colleagues have discussed in depth the need for premium ransomware protection. This isn't without reason:

• Ransomware caused losses up to US $20 billion for global governments and enterprises in 2021, 57 times that in 2015;
• One business or device is attacked by ransomware every 11 seconds globally, costing an average of US$1.85 million in ransom;
• 80% of victims who pay a ransom are targeted a second time.

All this simply solidifies the need for one thing – data protection.

I'll give a simple example about data protection. Consider how smartphones are indispensable in our day-to-day lives – to stay in touch with our friends, pay for goods and services, and record those precious moments in our lives. Now imagine your phone is stolen, or even worse, your password is easy to crack. You are flooded with anxiety because there is a good chance the thief can get your bank card number, ID card number, and key contacts.

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For the majority of office-based workers, working outside the office has been the new normal for close to two and a half years. Hybrid work, however, has created a growing disconnect between employees and leaders, according to new research from Microsoft’s latest Work Trend Index Pulse Report, published in conjunction with the latest product upgrades to its employee experience platform, Viva.

The report, “Hybrid Work Is Just Work. Are We Doing It Wrong?,” is based on data from 20,000 people in 11 countries, in addition to trillions of Microsoft 365 productivity signals and findings from  LinkedIn and Glint People Science.

Organizations have reached a critical turning point in the evolution of hybrid work, with Microsoft’s findings clearly demonstrating that a new approach is needed from companies, said Sunita Khatri, a senior director of product marketing at Microsoft.

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FaceTime, WhatsApp, and Zoom could be in the crosshairs of UK communications regulator Ofcom, which has announced a probe into cloud services, messenger apps, and smart devices. It’s just the latest in a global sequence of regulatory investigations likely to impact Big Tech.

UK is looking into the clouds

The UK regulator says it plans to examine the positions of Amazon, Microsoft, and Google in the UK’s $17 billion cloud services market. These three "hyperscalers" account for the vast majority (81%) of that market.

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If you’re building a large spreadsheet in Google Sheets or need to read one that has a hefty amount of data, it’s helpful to apply filters to it. A filter lets you hide specific data (such as numbers or text) inside a range of cells that you select so that you can see what your spreadsheet looks like without this information. In other words, it filters out the data that you don’t want to see in your spreadsheet.

For example, you can design a filter that shows only cells that have numbers that are 50 or greater inside them, and another filter that shows only cells containing numbers of 30 or less. You could then switch between these two filters to see your spreadsheet in these different ways — and then return to your spreadsheet’s original state with its full cell data.

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Workers want their productivity measured by the results they achieve, not by how many hours they log during the work week, according to a survey of 3,500 employees in the US, UK, Australia and Canada.

The survey by business software and services provider Adaptavist found 58% of workers want to eliminate the 40-hour work week, and nearly half (47%) believe the best flexible work option would be a four-day work week. More one-in-four respondents (28%) also said their employer already offers a four-day work week option.

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Disclosure: Dell and Intel are clients of the author.

Last week, I visited Intel’s Israel Development Center; this week I spoke with Jenn Saavedra, Dell’s chief human resources officer. From both the trip and that call, I was able to learn about some of the best practices each company is using to create a better workplace. They’re the kinds of moves other companies should keep in mind and even try to roll out for their workers.

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Apple's latest addition to the litany of tools for project and research collaboration, while inherently limited to Mac, iPhone, and iPad users, might even be of use to pros from time to time.

Apple’s keeping tabs for you

Despite wailing from bookmark reactionaries like myself, Apple seems truly committed to the notion of organizing the web using tabs, rather than traditional bookmarks. It introduced Tab Groups with iOS 15.

These are designed so you can keep dozens of tabs organized and available without needing to have them all open at once. This lets you use your browser in a slightly different way. So, if you were researching components for a major architectural project, you might create Tab Groups for different parts of the project, while also having a third Tab Group within which you gather research for your next vacation.

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Microsoft today announced the rollout of the first major feature upgrade to Windows 11. Many of the changes are incremental and focus on user interface and productivity enhancements, but there are some useful additions — including a new password security feature.

Mostly, Windows 11 version 22H2, known as the Windows 11 2022 Update, is about polishing up the user experience, while rounding out the feature set with some additional enterprise-targeted capabilities, according to Stephen Kleynhans, a vice president analyst at research firm Gartner.

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After years of twice-annual Windows 10 feature updates, the yearlong wait for the first feature update to Windows 11 has seemed especially lengthy. But the Windows 11 2022 Update, version 22H2, is here at last. (The “22” stands for the year 2022, and “H2” means it’s being released in the second half of the year.)

Unlike the frequently released quality and security updates, which fix bugs, plug security holes, and occasionally add a feature or two, feature updates typically add a host of new features to the OS, so there’s been a lot of anticipation about 22H2.

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The latest American Customer Satisfaction Index data seems to show that Apple’s iconic Mac is losing a little luster in comparison to PCs from other makers, but I’m not entirely convinced.

Got to keep the customer satisfied

You see, the data shows Apple narrowly leads in the PC category (82% v. 79%). It also shows that some of Apple’s larger PC manufacturing competitors are gaining ground. Perhaps. But dig a little more deeply into the survey results and you'll find the biggest innovation across the industry in the last couple of years (other than the move to Apple Silicon) involves improvements in customer services, specifically in call centers. 

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Slack has announced the launch of its new Slack Canvas tool, a brand new digital surface that allows teams to capture and store information directly inside their workspace.

The announcement was made at this year’s Dreamforce conference in San Francisco, 14 months after Salesforce announced it had completed its $27.7 billion acquisition of the messaging platform.

Research undertaken by the company shows that lots of its customers are split between several different modes of work, with about 34% of knowledge workers spending at least part of their week back in the office, according to Olivia Grace, senior director of product at Slack.

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Over the past couple years, those of us who pay close attention to mobile-tech matters have been watching a whole new paradigm of design shape up right before our overly moist eyeballs.

And you know I have to be talking about something important here, 'cause I'm using big words like "paradigm" and, erm, "eyeballs."

The subject in question is something core to the Android experience — particularly for anyone who's palming a Google-made Pixel phone, where the core Android software exists in its most undiluted form.

It's a little somethin' called Material You, and having lived with a Pixel through a full year of Android 12 and now the beginning of Android 13, I'm here to tell you it's one of the most shape-shifting and underappreciated advancements we've seen in modern tech — even if hardly anyone seems to be giving it the credit it deserves.

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If you’re an IT professional, you are likely still focused on Windows 10. Your network is mostly running it, Windows 11 is still in testing and you aren’t really sure when you’ll deploy the year-old OS. If this sounds like you, congratulations — you sound like the majority of respondents to my unofficial and unscientific survey on what businesses are planning to do with Windows 11.

Slightly more than 89% reported that Windows 10 remains the key desktop operating system used in their network. The rest are using Windows 7 — with or without Extended security updates — (3.92%); Windows 11 (3.43%), Windows 8.1 (.49%), macOS (.49%) or Linux (.49%). The few remaining respondents use a mix of Windows 10 and 11 and macOS.

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Once upon a time, Microsoft Office ruled the business world. By the late ‘90s and early 2000s, Microsoft’s office suite had brushed aside rivals such as WordPerfect Office and Lotus SmartSuite, and there was no competition on the horizon.

Then in 2006 Google came along with Google Docs & Spreadsheets, a collaborative online word processing and spreadsheet duo that was combined with other business services to form the Google Apps suite, later rebranded as G Suite, and now as Google Workspace. Although Google’s productivity suite didn’t immediately take the business world by storm, over time it has gained both in features and in popularity, boasting 6 million paying customers, according to Google’s most recent public stats in March 2020.

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With 63 updates affecting Windows, Microsoft Office and the Visual Studio and .NET platforms — and reports of three publicly exploited vulnerabilities (CVE-2022-37969, CVE-2022-34713, CVE-2021-40444) — this month's Patch Tuesday release gets a "Patch Now" priority. Key testing areas include printing, Microsoft Word, and in general application un-installations. (The Microsoft Office, .NET and browser updates can be added to your standard release schedules.)

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If you’ve switched to iOS 16, you’ve probably already realized Apple has tweaked the system. Notifications now appear at the bottom of the display and there are other changes that must be learned.

We all use them, we all need them

With the recent introduction of iOS 16 and the extent to which mobile pros depend on notifications — and the arrival today of the new iPhone 14 line-up — this is a ood time to look at how Apple has changed the system.

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Geolocation was once a glorious way to know who your company is dealing with (and sometimes what they are doing). Then VPNs started to undermine that. And now, things have gotten so bad that the Apple App Store and Google Play both offer apps that unashamedly declare they can spoof locations — and neither mobile OS vendor does anything to stop it.

Why? It seems both Apple and Google created the holes these developers are using.

In a nutshell, Apple and Google — to test their apps across various geographies — needed to be able to trick the system into thinking that their developers are wherever they wanted to say that they are. What’s good for the mobile goose, as they say.

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Workday this week announced an expansion to its Skills Cloud service, which uses existing employee information culled from third-party systems to discover talents that can be put to use within an organization.

Introduced in 2018, Skills Cloud comes natively with Workday’s Human Capital Management platform, machine learning software that helps client companies build talent management programs.

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Adobe announced today that it would pay $20 billion in cash and stock to acquire Figma, a web-based collaborative design platform. Figma will be folded into the larger Adobe family of products, and will continue to operate independently until the deal closes.

The $20 billion figure is a substantial step up in valuation for Figma, which was valued at $10 billion in its last funding round in 2021. The company was founded in 2012, and Adobe said that it has since developed a dedicated following among developers. Figma offers a rich range of collaboration options for joint software development, as well as the popular FigJam collaborative whiteboarding environment.

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The EU General Court's decision Wednesday to largely uphold the ruling of the European Commission that fined Google €4 billion (US$3.9 billion) for antitrust violations could have wide-ranging implications for other tech companies.

The case dates back to 2018, when the EU’s competition chief, Margrethe Vestager, issued a ruling that Google used its Android mobile operating system to undermine competitors.

The ruling dealt with three types of agreements that involved Google’s mobile application distribution agreements (MADAs), antifragmentation agreements (AFAs), and revenue sharing agreements (RSAs).

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