Intel has open sourced its ControlFlag tool, which the company claims uses advanced self-supervised machine-learning (ML) techniques to detect coding anomalies.

Now released under the MIT license and available on GitHub, ControlFlag was designed to help reduce the time it takes to debug and improve the code quality.

“ControlFlag works with any programming language with control structures and utilizes the emerging concept of semi-trust to utilize self-supervised learning, enabling it to learn from unlabeled source code,” writes Intel principal AI scientist Justin Gottschlich.

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Gottschlich added that ControlFlag is self-evolving, and can make itself better with minimal manual effort as it is fed new data.

Tried and tested

To stress on the importance of a tool like ControlFlag, Gottschlich relied on studies that suggested that debugging code costs as much as half of a project’s total budget, and the industry as a whole spent around $2 trillion to debug software last year alone.

He then showed off the usefulness of ControlFlag by pointing to a couple of its wins on widely used open source, and production-level software.

For instance, last year, ControlFlag identified a code anomaly in the popular cURL open source library and tool, which was subsequently patched. Most recently, ControlFlag identified “hundreds of latent defects related to memory and potential system crash bugs” in a proprietary production-level software that Gottschlichdidn’t name.

He also added that ControlFlag has also been employed by various open source software repositories and has uncovered “dozens of novel anomalies.”

“Each anomaly, thus far, has been acknowledged as a real defect by the open-source maintainers and has since been corrected,” beams Gottschlich.

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Seeing your calendar swamped by meetings should soon be a thing of the past thanks to a new Google Workspace update.

The online collaboration suite is introducing a new "Focus time" feature in Google Calendar that will allow users to block out periods of time where they can avoid meetings and get their heads down for actual work.

Most importantly, setting such a marker in your Google Calendar will also allow you to automatically decline meetings, meaning no last-minute rush to finish off work or cross off your to do list.

Focus time

Focus time will be included as a new entry type for Google Calendar, similar to when setting an event or Out of Office marker, giving your co-workers a clear indication that you need some time to concentrate and get some work done.

The ability to automatically decline meetings is unticked as a default, so you'll need to make sure it's selected if you truly want some peace. 

When finalized, the blocked-out time will appear in your Google Calendar with a headphones icon included, showing your contacts exactly how long you need to focus for. Users can alos set a new color for Focus time blocks in order to have a different visibility from your events and other meetings, and any scheduled focus time will also be tracked in your Time Insights.

"With the changes to our working environments in the past year, having more chats and meetings make it more difficult for people to carve out time for their core individual work," Google noted in a blog post announcing the update. "With the new focus time feature, we hope to make it easier to create dedicated time for thinking and core work."

The feature is rolling out to most Google Workspace users now, and should be arriving to  Google Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Teaching & Learning Upgrade, Education Standard, Education Plus, and Nonprofits customers by the end of October 2021.

However it won't be available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Enterprise Essentials, and Frontline and as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers.

The launch is the latest in a list of Google Calendar features as the company looks to help workers re-adjust to office life.

It recently announced an integration with Google Chat that will mean calendar markers now give users the option to quickly message other attendees in the run-up to a meeting, provided they work for the same organization.

You can also check out our pick of the best hybrid working tech - everything you need for the return to the office.

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Microsoft has released a new Insider Build that allows US users to try out Android apps in Windows 11 from the Amazon app store.

This is a feature that’s been long awaited since its announcement in June, where you can download apps from the redesigned Microsoft Store and run popular Android apps alongside Paint, Office and others.

Yet the feature is set to go deeper than that. Microsoft announced new Surface products such as the Surface Pro 8, Surface Laptop 4 and the Surface Go 3, and if this feature is done well,it could mean that the budget Surface Go 3 may be the best Android tablet you can currently own. 

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How did we get here?

Since the Windows Phone, Microsoft has wanted to make an impression in the mobile space, but ironically it was the company’s Surface line of products that helped make Windows on mobile more appealing.

Being able to use touch controls on Windows with a device that’s been partly designed for it gave greater potential for Android to appear on the operating system eventually. While you could organize your phone’s content through an app, the app store on Windows Phone and Windows 8 to Windows 10 were severely lacking. Combine this with the Store on Windows 8 being  it always felt like there was opportunity for more, and now there is.

While it’s only available in the US for now, the amount of Android apps that you can use could be vast, from TikTok, to Instagram, and even to your banking apps.

However, thanks to the Surface Go 3’s budget price, it could make a positive impact on other Android tablets, but with the benefit of running Windows 11.

The best Android tablet you never knew you needed 

While we said in our Surface Go 3 review that the tablet disappointed when it comes to performance and battery, it can still be a great secondary device to use for Android once the feature fully rolls out on Windows 11.

Using it as a banking and gaming device alongside watching content through your favorite Android apps will be alluring to many, and there’s inevitably going to be other ways of loading Android apps onto a Windows 11 device instead of using the Microsoft Store. It would also mean you don’t have to buy two devices, as something like the Surface Go 3 will act as both a Windows 11 device and an Android one as well. 

(Image credit: Microsoft)

There may even be a small resurgence of developers wanting to create tablet layouts for their apps, just so they look better on a Windows tablet.

However, some of this could be wishful thinking, and Android apps on Windows might just not take off. But there is a huge opportunity here for Microsoft, Amazon and Google to take advantage of Windows tablet users.

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The best Linux distros for gaming, to make it simple and easy to play PC games on Linux machines.

Gaming on Linux has come a long way in the last half a decade. While it was always possible to game on Linux, the titles that worked flawlessly on the platform were few and far between.

Valve’s announcement of their own Linux gaming distro proved to be a turning point, which made gaming publishers stand up and acknowledge the presence of the open source platform. The titles soon began trickling in, and now even major gaming studios are proudly showing off the penguin compatibility of their marquee titles. Thanks to initiatives such as Proton, Linux users get decent game play even on titles that were designed only for Windows.

Even before Valve got into the act, the flag bearers of gaming on Linux have been evergreen open source initiatives such as the WINE compatibility layer, gaming platforms like Lutris that rely on its strong community to power hundreds of gaming titles on Linux, and high-quality open source drivers from vendors such as AMD. 

Thanks to all these initiatives the open source operating system has not only proved itself as a very capable gaming platform, it can even sometimes outperform Windows.

In true open source fashion, you have a handful of options that’ll help you create the perfect Linux environment for gaming. Here are some of the options on offer.

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(Image credit: Drauger) 1. Drauger OS

The desktop distro for gamers

Multiple gaming platformsSupports several controllersNo browser in Live environmentCumbersome system installer

Drauger OS describes itself as a Linux Desktop Gaming OS. The distro is based off Ubuntu LTS releases. However instead of opting for the kernel from Ubuntu, Drauger uses the mainline Linux kernel. 

The developers have compiled the kernel with low latency enabled and have also changed the scheduling frequency from 250Hz to 1000Hz. Thanks to these changes, gamers should experience higher frame rates, reduced screen tearing, and generally better performance in the game play.

The distro installs Steam Client straight on the start of the Live environment. The distro uses a customized Xfce desktop environment and new users will appreciate the tutorial in the welcome app that’ll take them through a whistle stop tour of the new environment.

Drauger claims to support most Xbox and Xbox360 controllers and some PlayStation controllers as well. The distro also has several applications and tools installed out of the box to improve the gaming experience, including PlayOnLinux, WINE, Lutris, Steam, and DXVK.

The distro ships with a large cache of apps, which means you can use it as a very capable desktop distro for regular computing tasks as well. In fact, you’ll need a disk with at least 32GB of disk space to install Drauger.

(Image credit: Ubuntu GamePack) 2. Ubuntu GamePack

Brings hundreds of games to the popular OS

Supports multiple gaming platformsIncludes GameMode optimizationsTons of regular desktop appsNo pre-installed games

Ubuntu GamePack comes from Ukrainian developers UALinux, and is very similar to Drauger OS. Both distros are based on Ubuntu, though Ubuntu GamePack uses a customized Gnome desktop environment. Furthermore, in addition to proprietary codecs and drivers, Ubuntu GamePack also provides multiple gaming platforms and tools including Steam, Lutris, PlayOnLinux, and more. 

However, with Ubuntu GamePack you also get a time-limited trial version of CrossOver, which is a proprietary compatibility app based on WINE that you can use to run Windows games (and apps). The distro also includes the DOSBox emulator to run DOS games as well as ScummVM to run classic adventure and role-playing games. 

The highlight of the distro is a set of optimizations known as GameMode that tweaks the installation to make it more suitable for gaming. The distro also includes a whole set of regular desktop productivity apps to pitch itself as a very capable desktop distro for gamers. It also scores over Drauger for using a customized instance of the intuitive Ubuntu Ubiquity installer.

(Image credit: Fedora Games Spin) 3. Fedora Games spin

The best the Open Source community has to offer

Hundreds of gamesFully usable Live environmentOpen open source titles

The raison d'etre of the Fedora Games spin is to showcase the best open source games available in the repositories of the Fedora distro. 

The distro is distributed as a meaty 4.1GB image and is chock full of all kinds of games, from strategy games to first-person shooters, and everything in between. Best of all you can enjoy all the games from within the Live environment.

Fedora Games uses the Xfce desktop environment and the developers put out a new release every time Fedora has a major release. This is why the latest edition is based on Fedora Workstation 33.

While the Fedora Games spin is a very capable gaming distro and works as advertised, it lacks the dexterity of some of the other gaming distros we’ve featured here. For starters it doesn’t include other platforms like Steam or utilities like PlayonLinux or WINE, though all of these can be manually installed.

(Image credit: System76) 4. Pop!_OS

Good base to build your gaming station

Support for hybrid graphicsSeparate image for Nvidia usersBare bones out of the box

The Pop!_OS distro by hardware vendor System76 is one of the best options for gamers who want to assemble their own gaming installation. 

Pop!OS is based on the Ubuntu LTS release and sports its own user interface over Gnome, dubbed Pop Shell. The distro has all the necessary plumbing to give its users to mould it as per their requirements. For gamers that includes getting hybrid graphics to work on Linux and giving you the option to launch games on the GPU in the context menu.

While the distro doesn’t ship with any gaming platforms, unlike the other options in this guide, you can easily pull the likes of Steam, Lutris, and GameHub from its app store without much effort. Furthermore the distro is available in a couple of flavors; a standard image and one that comes with the proprietary Nvidia driver pre-installed.

(Image credit: Lakka) 5. Lakka

Emulate an impressive number of games consoles

Emulate dozens of consolesAvailable for multiple platformsDoesn’t include any games

Lakka is a lightweight version of Linux which can turn your computer into a retro games console. It's built on top of the libretro core and uses RetroArch as its front end.

Lakka is available as a bootable USB image for PCs. There are also versions for ARM-based machines such as the Raspberry Pi.

This distro supports most keyboards as well as wireless PS3 and PS4 controllers, along with Xbox 360 controllers if you have the proprietary dongle. RetroArch boasts a very handy autoconfig feature which should mean that most controllers will work out of the box without you having to manually map keys. The Lakka documentation also has some excellent walkthroughs for more unusual setups. 

For copyright reasons, the OS ships without any games preinstalled. You'll need to obtain legal copies of either ISO images of game CDs you own or precompiled ROM files of arcade games. Check out the Internet Archive which contains some public domain ROMS.

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With the launch of smart canvas earlier this year, Google made collaborating while working online even simpler in Google Workspace as the feature allows users to bring together all of its various tools including Docs, Meet, Sheets and Slides in any document they're working on.

As part of its mission to build the future of work, the search giant also introduced smart chips which enable users to add interactive building blocks to connect people, content and events into one seamless experience.

Now though, with its new universal @ menu, Google is making it easier to add things like tables and images in addition to smart chips directly into Google Docs. By typing “@” while in a document, users will see a list of recommended files, people, meetings, content elements and formats to insert into their work.

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The addition of the company's @ menu ties together all of its online collaboration tools in a way that will likely help boost productivity as users won't have to switch tabs, apps or even leave the document they're working on to add rich elements to their content.

Page break before in Docs

In a separate post on the Google Workspace blog, Google revealed that Docs users can now mark a paragraph to always begin on a new page with its new “Add page break before” option.

This new feature is particularly useful for journalists and other writers that want certain paragraph styles to always create a new page such as titles, subtitles or headings.

At the same time though, “Add page break before” will also allow users to import and export Microsoft Word and other third-party documents that have this option applied to paragraphs and Google Docs will retain that formatting.

To get started using this formatting style, users can go to Format > Line & paragraph spacing in the Docs menu bar and click “add page break before” after highlighting a title, subtitle or heading.

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Windows 11 finally has the highly anticipated support for Android apps which Microsoft promised upon first revealing the OS – albeit just in testing for now, and only certain Windows Insiders can benefit from it.

As you may recall, the ability to natively run Android apps on the Windows 11 desktop – or at least some Android apps, namely those provided by the Amazon App Store, via the Microsoft Store – was hoped to be present at release, but the feature never came.

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Now, at least, we can see Microsoft is progressing towards its realization with the introduction of the Android apps experience to testers in the Beta Channel (Windows 11 Build 22000.xxx series) who are in the US. Dev Channel testers won’t get Android support yet, but Microsoft says they will do “down the road”.

Microsoft reminds us that this functionality is driven by the Windows Subsystem for Android, which eligible testers will find under the Start menu (and they can tweak relevant settings from there). Like the Windows Subsystem for Linux, it runs in a Hyper-V Virtual Machine.

From the user experience point of view, Android apps can be treated just like common-or-garden Windows apps on the desktop. They can be pinned, Alt-tabbed between, snapped side-by-side to run more than one app, plus Android apps are supported in the Action Center with notifications, and you can cut and paste clipboard material between Android and Windows software.

The idea, as you might expect, is for things to be as seamless as possible, and Microsoft also makes it clear that accessibility is high on the priority list, noting that “many Windows accessibility settings apply to Android apps and we are working with Amazon to deliver more improvements”.

Android support is live now, in theory, for the aforementioned testers, but the link Microsoft provides in its instructions to get going is actually missing. We expect that’ll be remedied very soon, though.

Analysis: Not a surprise, but great to see nonetheless

The arrival of native Android app support is no big surprise given that there was a very recent leak of the feature being tested internally at Microsoft, so it was expected to be here soon. Maybe not quite this soon, but hey, the sooner the better, obviously. With testing now fully underway in the Beta Channel, the prospects for a more timely arrival in the release version of Windows 11 are looking brighter.

Naturally, the addition of more apps to the armory of Windows 11 users is a good thing, but the initial selection for testing is small as you might expect. There are 50 apps to begin with, but new software will be coming as the months progress. The initial offerings include the Kindle app, Lego Duplo World, and mobile games including Lords Mobile.

Of course, it’s early days, so don’t expect smooth sailing when playing around with Android apps. Indeed, Microsoft has highlighted a bunch of known issues, including camera glitches in some apps, bugs around apps coming out of modern standby, and performance slowdown when running multiple Android apps.

While only US testers can get involved at the moment, presumably that will open up to other regions as time progresses, too.

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Upserve POS is designed for those in the restaurant and hospitality industries. In our Upserve point of sale system evaluation, we explore Upserve pricing, POS software features, usability and all else that makes this restaurant POS provider a leading choice, often talked about alongside the best POS systems on the market.

Finding the right point of sale system for your business will help streamline day-to-day operations and make your workflow more efficient. There are numerous options on the market, and many of them, such as Upserve, are tailored for specific industries. 

By the way, if you're looking for a POS system for a restaurant, try our guide to choosing a POS system for a restaurant and bar.

Article continues below...

Get a free quote for a POS system .falcon-placeholder{background:#eee;box-shadow:inset 0 0 0 5px #ccc;box-sizing:border-box;height:502px;position:relative;}.falcon-placeholder:before{color:#ccc;content:"Loading quote wizard...";left:50%;position:absolute;text-align:center;top:50%;transform:translate(-50%,-50%);}.falcon-placeholder.falcon-initiated-target{background:none;box-shadow:none;height:auto;}.falcon-placeholder.falcon-initiated-target:before{display:none;} Upserve: Plans and pricing

To use Upserve, you will have to pay a monthly subscription fee and a one-off hardware fee. The cheapest Core subscription costs $59 per month and includes full Upserve Payment integrations, offline mode, training mode, transaction search tools, and various other features. With this plan, each POS terminal costs $60. 

Upgrading to a Pro plan ($199 per month) reduces the POS hardware price to $50 per terminal. It also adds various features, including menu optimization, server performance metrics, a free Upserve Online Ordering add-on, one-click ordering, and more. 

And finally, the Pro Plus plan ($359 per month) is designed for enterprise-level clients and includes POS terminals at $40 each. It also comes with a selection of custom reporting tools, a data API so you can integrate Upserve with your own platform, and dedicated account management. 

At the time of writing, financing options were available for both hardware and software purchases. And what’s more, there are numerous add-ons that you can purchase to add specific functionality to the software.

Upserve POS is available with three subscription options (Image credit: Upserve) Upserve: How it works

To get started with Upserve POS, you will have to sign up for a monthly plan and purchase at least one hardware terminal. In most cases, you will also benefit from professional installation and training to help you get up and running as fast as possible. 

One of the best things about Upserve POS is its powerful ordering and order management software. The program runs on various mobile devices, allowing your staff to quickly take, manage, and modify orders where required. You can also accept payments directly from the table, access a range of great statistics, and use historical information to improve your business’s long-term performance. 

On top of this, the POS interface is extremely attractive, featuring an intuitive design and everything your staff will need to go about their daily jobs. You can even keep track of inventory, note meals which are unavailable or almost out of stock, and send receipts directly to customers when required.

The Upserve user interface will help to streamline your restaurant’s operations (Image credit: Upserve) Upserve: Features and services

Upserve POS is backed by a suite of advanced features targeted directly at restaurants and other hospitality-based business owners and managers. 

One of our favorite things about the Upserve POS system is its great range of flexible payment options. There are numerous tools available to help you split checks, calculate tips, and accept various payment types from members of the same group. 

Another great tool is Upserve’s in-depth training mode. Rather than you spending numerous man-hours teaching new employees how to use the system, this provides a hands-on experience, allowing them to learn without risking mistakes that could compromise your real system. 

Drive informed business decisions by taking advantage of Upserve’s powerful restaurant analytics. You will have access to a great range of statistics and analytics tools, allowing you to base business changes on actual facts. 

In the modern world, nearly everything is connected to and run on the internet. But what happens when your internet connection goes down?

Upserve POS provides an answer to this through its powerful offline mode. With this, you can continue to accept payments, print receipts, and take orders, which will be synced with the system when you go back online. 

Upserve POS is backed by a range of great features (Image credit: Upserve) Upserve: Support and customer care

All reports suggest that Upserve’s support and ongoing customer care are both excellent. The Knowledge Center contains a suite of articles and how-to guides detailing various actions and setup procedures. There are also various webinars for more in-depth training, and live chat support is available 24/7 via the company website. 

Additionally, online reports suggest that the Upserve team does a great job of looking after customers post-sales. For example, it receives a decent 4.4/5 star rating from 246 reviews on Capterra, which is higher than many of its competitors get. Many of these focus on the excellent 24/7 live support, which should instill a high level of confidence in prospective users.

The Upserve Knowledge Center is great (Image credit: Upserve) Upserve: The competition

Upserve is a great option for small businesses in the hospitality industry, but there are plenty of alternatives out there worth considering. 

For example, Lightspeed POS provides a feature-rich system that is targeted at restaurants, retail, and e-commerce businesses. Prices start from $59 per month, which is similar to Upserve, but you will benefit from a wide range of advanced tools that can be personalized for your business. 

Epos Now is another popular hospitality-specific POS service provider. Its prices start at $39 per month or $750 for a one-off software license, and it also comes with great loyalty and customer relationship management (CRM) features.

Final verdict

Overall, Upserve provides excellent POS solutions for restaurants and other hospitality-based businesses of all shapes and sizes. Its prices are similar to those of other industry leaders, it boasts an impressive range of advanced features, and its customer service is reportedly second to none. 

At the end of the day, we’d highly recommend reaching out to the Upserve team and having a chat, especially if you’re looking for a reliable, feature-rich POS solution that’s tailored to your business.

If you're looking for a POS system for a restaurant, try our guide to choosing a POS system for a restaurant and bar, or check out our TouchBistro review or Lightspeed review.

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Microsoft is working on a couple of updates for its productivity suite that will help businesses keep closer tabs on the ways their employees are using the web.

As per a new entry in the company’s product roadmap, the Microsoft 365 compliance center (a service for IT administrators) will soon provide “increased visibility of risky activity using browsers and associated insider risk policy templates”.

A second entry, meanwhile, suggests Microsoft will deploy new machine learning (ML) techniques to more accurately detect potential threats and “uncover hidden insider risks”.

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In a break from the norm, Microsoft has simply marked these roadmap items as “in development”, without providing more specific timelines.

Microsoft 365 tackles insider threat

Although businesses face a wide range of threats from external actors, the security risk created by employees (either intentionally or otherwise) is also significant. According to projections from security firm Mandiant, for example, insider threat will account for a third of all incidents this year.

To help businesses combat this challenge, Microsoft 365 compliance center has long provided administrators with ways to configure alerts that trigger when employees perform certain actions online.

“Web browsers are often used to access both sensitive and non-sensitive files within an organization. Insider risk management allows your organization to detect and act on browser exfiltration signals for all non-executable files viewed in Microsoft Edge and Google Chrome,” a Microsoft guide explains.

Under this system, administrators can choose to be alerted when a member of staff copies files to personal cloud storage or a USB flash drive, for example, or when files are transferred to an insecure network share.

Although the new roadmap entries are rather vague, the suggestion is that the upgrades will provide admins with an increased level of visibility over employee behavior online (perhaps at an interface level), as well improving the likelihood that these kinds of risky activities are detected.

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While Instagram is introducing a few features this week to appeal to those who want to collaborate on photos and videos, the company is finally allowing posts to be created on the desktop.

After making its mark with Instagram Stories, its take on Snapchat Stories, the company wants to refine other aspects of its app. The Reels feature is the company’s take on TikTok, enabling users to create and share videos which is being updated this week, but there’s more room for improvement that’s about to be brought out.

If you’re a heavy user of Instagram, this looks to be a significant update that’s going to benefit in a number of ways.

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What are the new features coming up?

One feature is already rolling out, where the company is testing a way of allowing two accounts to co-author a post or a Reel, called Collabs.

Sharing in this way will display the post in the Feed or Reels header to both sets of followers.

(Image credit: Instagram)

You can start a Fundraiser directly from the ‘+’ button in the app, and attribute it to a post. This is set to go live later today across all platforms.

Reels are also seeing two new effects called Superbeat and Dynamic Lyrics. Inspired by TikTok, this allows a Reel post to have special effects and lyrics automatically generated based on the song chosen. This can save you time in making sure the effects sync up with the song you’ve picked.

The last feature has been long requested, where you will be able to create a post or a video in under one minute within a web browser. This launches on October 21, so anyone with an iPad or a Surface will be able to post to their feed on Safari or Microsoft Edge.

Analysis: posting on an iPad is about to be much easier

While improvements to Reels and better fundraising prompts are welcome, the big takeaway is being able to post a photo or video from within a web browser. It’s something that users have been wanting to do for years.

iPad users have had to use an enlarged version of Instagram through the iPhone app, but now it’ll be a matter of using a web browser to not only view, but also to post.

(Image credit: Instagram)

This is a smart move from Instagram, as it saves the company from creating a dedicated app for iPadOS, Windows 11 and even Linux if you check your feed from there.

While it’s only limited to photos and videos of up to one minute, that’s still going to please a lot of users who don’t use Reels or the Live features that the app brings.

Instagram is already setting itself up to be the video app of choice compared to Snapchat and TikTok, but time will tell if these companies will follow suit and allow posts to be created and edited on the web as well.

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