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Today’s topics include increased Apple Store log-in security, Intel and Microsoft’s collaboration on the new Edge Web browser, Google’s plan for this year’s leap second and updates to Microsoft’s Sway.
Apple increased log-in security for its Apple Store iOS app by offering two-step verification for log-ins when users enable it on their iPads, iPhone and iPod Touch devices.
Apple posted the updated Apple Store iOS app, version 3.3, online on May 21 as a free 22.3MB download. The updated two-step verification requires users to enter a password and a secondary verification code to log in to the Apple Store through the mobile app.
Intel’s computer processor expertise is being put to work in Microsoft’s new Edge Web browser, the successor to Internet Explorer due this summer.
The companies previously collaborated on the Chakra JavaScript engine for Internet Explorer in Windows 8.1. Now Intel engineers are collaborating with Microsoft in the implementation of [single instruction, multiple data (SIMD) technology in the Chakra engine for Edge.
Edge, formerly Project Spartan, is the new default browser for Microsoft’s upcoming Windows 10 operating system. Microsoft designed Edge as a more streamlined and modern take on Windows Web browsing that includes a stripped-down user interface and Cortana integration.
June 30, 2015 will be one second longer as the International Earth Rotation and Systems Service adds what it calls a “leap second” to keep exquisitely accurate atomic clocks synchronized with the Earth’s slowing rotation.
The service has been adding leap seconds to atomic clocks since 1972. The last time was in 2012, and it caused computers at many organizations, including LinkedIn, Gawker, Mozilla and Reddit to experience brief hiccups as the internal clocks on their systems went out of sync with external clocks.
To avoid such issues, Google plans to “smear” away the leap second during a 20-hour window when internal clocks on all the company’s servers will be slowed by roughly 14 parts per million.
Microsoft is now enabling the Sway presentation development tools for organizations that have signed up for business and education Office 365 plans.
First introduced in October, Sway is a mobile-friendly alternative to building presentations with tools like the company’s own PowerPoint software. Users can drag-and-drop text, images and Web content to interactive presentations that automatically scale to fit smartphones, tablets and PC displays.