Latest news with #IT
Arab Times
13 hours ago
- Arab Times
Windows' infamous 'blue screen of death' will soon turn black
NEW YORK, June 28, (AP): Nearly every Windows user has had a run-in with the infamous "Blue Screen of Death' at some point in their computing life. Now, after more than 40 years of being set against a very recognizable blue, the updated error message will soon be displayed across a black background. The changes to the notorious error screen come as part of broader efforts by Microsoft to improve the resiliency of the Windows operating system in the wake of last year's CrowdStrike incident, which crashed millions of Windows machines worldwide. "Now it's easier than ever to navigate unexpected restarts and recover faster,' Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft wrote in a Wednesday announcement. As part of that effort, Microsoft says it's "streamlining' what users experience when encountering "unexpected restarts' that cause disruptions. And that means a makeover to the infamous error screen. Beyond the now-black background, Windows' new "screen of death' has a slightly shorter message. It's also no longer accompanied by a frowning face - and instead shows a percentage completed for the restart process. Microsoft says this "simplified' user interface for unexpected restarts will be available later this summer on all of its Windows 11 (version 24H2) devices. And for PCs that may not restart successfully, Microsoft on Wednesday also said it's adding a "quick machine recovery' mechanism. The will be particularly useful for during a widespread outage, the tech giant noted, as Microsoft "can broadly deploy targeted remediations' and automate fixes with this new mechanism "without requiring complex manual intervention from IT.' Microsoft said this quick machine recovery will also be "generally available' later this summer on Window 11 - with additional capabilities set to launch later in the year.
CNA
a day ago
- Business
- CNA
In 2018, I lost my IT job and thought I'd never be in tech again. Now I teach AI to students and adult learners
In late 2018, I was the head of IT in a firm I had dedicated many years of my life to. One afternoon, I was called into a meeting, handed an envelope, and told that my role had been made redundant. Just like that, 18 years of hard work, late nights and quiet sacrifices went up in smoke. The first thing I did was call my wife. She didn't say much, just 'Come home first. We'll figure it out.' Her words grounded me in that moment. Because truthfully, my mind was completely blank – I had no idea what to do next. For the next three years, I felt like I was floating. Life became a meaningless blur of job applications sent into the void, polite rejections, and radio silence. With bills to pay, I became a Grab driver. It was honest work, and I came to appreciate the structure of the routine and the small human moments in picking up a sleepy executive at 6am or chatting with retirees on the way to the clinic. And then COVID-19 hit. Almost overnight, the roads emptied. My bookings dropped to a trickle; sometimes I'd wait 40 minutes for a single ride. I drove 10-12 hours each day and barely made enough to cover petrol, let alone meals, utilities, and my family's other needs. Still, every single dollar mattered. Behind the wheel, I fought not just physical exhaustion , but doubt. How long could I keep going like this? I carried my burdens with clenched teeth and silent prayers, but they only seemed to be growing heavier each day. For three years, I was running on empty both physically and emotionally. I asked myself over and over: 'Yatim, is this what you have become?' CHOOSING TO BELIEVE One night, tired from hours of driving with little reward, I came across the SGUnited Skills programme on my phone. My gaze caught on a course on smart factory and data engineering at the Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT). The course description was peppered with words like 'Internet of Things' (or IoT), 'automation systems' and 'data integration' – all topics that had been mere emerging buzzwords when I was last working in IT. In that moment, I had a painful realisation: I had spent nearly two decades in tech, leading teams and building solutions that once felt cutting-edge – but all those years of experience meant little the moment I stopped learning. I had let my industry move on without me. I had become outdated. Obsolete. I missed the spark I once had. I missed feeling relevant and having something to offer. A small flame of faith fanned within me: Maybe it wasn't too late. Maybe I still had it in me to grow. With a deep, trembling breath, I clicked 'enrol'. FINDING PURPOSE AGAIN Relearning at nearly 50 wasn't easy. I had to set aside my age and industry experience and return to the basics – not just in skills, but in confidence. But I was pleased to discover that SIT's eight-month course was structured thoughtfully to help all kinds of learners not just acquire technical knowledge and skills, but also apply them meaningfully. Through hands-on projects in areas like artificial intelligence (AI) and digital transformation, I began seeing how today's digital economy has evolved to create a need for different types of expertise. The teaching staff at SIT were experts but also patient, passionate mentors who believed in every learner's potential. With their encouragement and support, for the first time in years, I felt it was okay to ask questions, stumble and start over. The course didn't just deliver education; it delivered a renewed sense of purpose for me. RESKILLING ISN'T JUST ABOUT ME People often talk about reskilling or upskilling as a journey of personal growth. For me, it was never just personal. Through my years of redundancy, my wife held our household together with quiet strength, taking care of our five children while I was out driving long hours or buried in assignments. When I first enrolled in SIT, my kids – the youngest of whom was just six years old – didn't understand why Dad was suddenly home all the time. But once we explained I was 'back in school', they never failed to ask me at the end of each day: 'Daddy, how was class!' Truth be told, there were many moments where I wanted to quit. Moments where I felt too old, too slow – unsure if I could keep up. But on those doubtful, defeated nights, my wife would gently remind me why I started. We had many honest conversations about expenses, sacrifices, and the kind of example I wanted to set for our children. I knew that I wasn't just rebuilding myself. We were, as a family, rebuilding what our life could look like together. FROM LEARNING TO TEACHING When I started the SIT course, I wasn't sure where it would lead. But over time, I found myself thinking often about my past experiences mentoring younger colleagues as a department head, or hearing passengers' personal stories as a private-hire driver. I began to see that the true value in my reskilling journey was no longer about gaining knowledge. If I was serious about re-entering the tech field, I had to find a new path – one centred on connecting with and investing in people. Upon graduating, I started consulting to regain my footing in an industry that had changed so much. I had to rebuild my confidence in my abilities to both solve problems and work in tandem with others. Soon, though, I realised that it wasn't enough for me to grow. I wanted to help others grow, too. Eventually, I found myself back in the classroom, this time as an educator at a private Institute of Higher Learning. My first day in the job, standing before my first class was a profound moment for me. I used to think of AI and IoT as things that were out of my reach – now I was educating others on them. I had rebuilt myself – now I was helping others do the same. TO FALL IS HUMAN If you're feeling stuck, unsure or afraid right now, I want you to know that it's okay to fall. We all do – that's just life. What matters is what you do after the fall. Saying yes to re-education wasn't easy. It was uncomfortable, humbling and exhausting. But on our hardest days, there's a quiet strength that only comes from knowing someone who loves you is waiting for you at the end. My family's belief in me was strong and steadfast – and that made all the difference. Our true value as human beings is not in our title or pay cheque. We can always learn new ways to grow and contribute. And sometimes, the very thing that knocks you down can become the push you need to stand taller than you ever did before. Yatim Ghani is an adjunct lecturer in IoT and AI, as well as an advocate for mid-career upskilling and digital resilience.
Economic Times
2 days ago
- Business
- Economic Times
Looking for narrative stocks? These four themes look promising: Anand Radhakrishnan
Live Events You Might Also Like: Expect positive trend as benefits of rate cuts & consumption boost trickle down: Anand Radhakrishnan You Might Also Like: FIIs to return in a big way post BTA with US; IT a big pick for next 18 months: Sunil Subramaniam (You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our ETMarkets WhatsApp channel , MD,, says Indian markets show interesting trends. Sustainability efforts gain traction. Manufacturing , especially defence, sees strength. Premium goods and services experience rising demand. Technology-based disruption companies emerge in logistics, e-commerce and fintech. These new-age companies show volatility. But some establish strong market presence. Sustainability, premiumization , manufacturing, and technology disruption offer opportunities. These four themes look promising for the currently there are multiple themes in the market. One is on the sustainability theme where not only in India, but globally, there has been a concerted effort to push towards decarbonization, alternate energy, electrification, recycling, etc. In India also, some of the companies which have been engaged in these spaces generally have got some tailwind. Though at the margin we have seen some moderation in the global push towards sustainability because of various policy issues globally, we have seen that in the domestic market there is a reasonable continued tailwind on are other themes also which have been currently focused. One is on the manufacturing side; we have seen defence being a subset of the Atmanirbhar or Make for India theme. We have seen reasonable strength. The companies have been declaring good numbers on the manufacturing side, be it the industrial goods companies as well as defence manufacturing companies. Some of the companies that supply ancillaries and equipment to railways, have been declaring good numbers and have healthy order books. That theme continues to remain fairly third theme which we feel is gaining a little bit momentum is the so-called premiumization trend. As the income levels go up, the demand for goods and services especially on the premium end of the market has been going up – be it in automobiles, financial services, wealth management, apparel, retailing system, in short multiple sectors. The companies that are engaged in the manufacturing and the delivery of premium goods and premium services have been trending at a faster growth rate and that is why the companies are less volatile, their earnings more resilient and provide very good multi-year growth the fourth trend which we see in the market is the technology-based disruption companies, like Eternal, Swiggy, Policybazaar, etc. We also expect more companies in logistics, delivery systems, e-commerce, fintech, food tech and healthcare technology. Though some of these new-age companies tend to be more volatile, there is a lot of uncertainty around their profitability, the business models are nascent and evolving but some of them are pretty strong and have established a moat and footprint in the marketplace. So, we would remain very constructive. A combination of all these four themes, sustainability, premiumization, manufacturing, and technology-based disruption look pretty interesting as the markets stand the earnings growth is little healthier as we go down the cap curve and largecap companies declared earnings growth are less than the mid and small-sized earnings growth. So, to that extent, one can justify a growth-led premium as we go down the cap curve. But growth is not the only reason why stock should value, there are stabilities, qualities, capital efficiency, transparency, there are many issues where we still have to justify why we should pay a significant premium to small we go down, while the growth gets more interesting, the valuations make it a very tight rope walk for us and therefore, we need to trade off between good growth companies which are valued very richly and moderate growth companies that are valued a lot more moderately in the marketplace. Yes, we are sacrificing growth for some margin of safety, but from a portfolio perspective, that is a very tricky trade off fund managers have to make while they are investing down the cap the largecap, we do see pockets of dull growth. For example, IT companies have been growing at low single digits and the visibility seems to be still very challenging for them. Some of the commodity companies continue to be volatile in earnings and there is no clear trend on global commodity prices which makes it tough for one to allocate big money. Similarly, the utility companies are little bit low growth. So, within the basket of largecaps, the proportion of moderately growing companies is very high whereas in the mid and small-sized stocks, we see the breadth being pretty healthy, more point on valuation is growth-led valuation, and the other is liquidity-led valuation. As we speak today, the mid and smalls-sized companies seem to be predominantly supported by the domestic investors, not so much by the foreign institutional investors per se. We need to be a little careful and watchful of the domestic liquidity conditions.
Euronews
2 days ago
- Euronews
Microsoft Windows to get rid of 'blue screen of death' after 40 years
Out of the blue and into the black. Microsoft's infamous 'Blue Screen of Death' is set to change colour after almost 40 years. The changes to the notorious error screen come as part of broader efforts by Microsoft to improve the resiliency of the Windows operating system in the wake of last year's CrowdStrike incident, which crashed millions of Windows machines worldwide. 'Now it's easier than ever to navigate unexpected restarts and recover faster,' Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft wrote in a Wednesday announcement. As part of that effort, Microsoft says it's 'streamlining' what users experience when encountering 'unexpected restarts' that cause disruptions. And that means a makeover to the infamous error screen. Beyond the now-black background, Windows' new 'screen of death' has a slightly shorter message. It's also no longer accompanied by a frowning face — and instead shows a percentage completed for the restart process. Microsoft says this 'simplified' user interface for unexpected restarts will be available later this summer on all of its Windows 11 (version 24H2) devices. And for PCs that may not restart successfully, Microsoft on Wednesday also said it's adding a 'quick machine recovery' mechanism. They will be particularly useful for during a widespread outage, the tech giant noted, as Microsoft 'can broadly deploy targeted remediations' and automate fixes with this new mechanism 'without requiring complex manual intervention from IT". Microsoft said this quick machine recovery will also be 'generally available' later this summer on Windows 11 — with additional capabilities set to launch later in the year.
2 days ago
Windows' infamous 'blue screen of death' will soon turn black
Nearly every Windows user has had a run-in with the infamous 'Blue Screen of Death' at some point in their computing life. Now, after more than 40 years of being set against a very recognizable blue, the updated error message will soon be displayed across a black background. The changes to the notorious error screen come as part of broader efforts by Microsoft to improve the resiliency of the Windows operating system in the wake of last year's CrowdStrike incident, which crashed millions of Windows machines worldwide. 'Now it's easier than ever to navigate unexpected restarts and recover faster,' Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft wrote in a Wednesday announcement. As part of that effort, Microsoft says it's 'streamlining' what users experience when encountering 'unexpected restarts' that cause disruptions. And that means a makeover to the infamous error screen. Beyond the now-black background, Windows' new 'screen of death' has a slightly shorter message. It's also no longer accompanied by a frowning face — and instead shows a percentage completed for the restart process. Microsoft says this 'simplified' user interface for unexpected restarts will be available later this summer on all of its Windows 11 (version 24H2) devices. And for PCs that may not restart successfully, Microsoft on Wednesday also said it's adding a 'quick machine recovery' mechanism. The will be particularly useful for during a widespread outage, the tech giant noted, as Microsoft 'can broadly deploy targeted remediations' and automate fixes with this new mechanism 'without requiring complex manual intervention from IT.' Microsoft said this quick machine recovery will also be 'generally available' later this summer on Window 11 — with additional capabilities set to launch later in the year.
