Sales teams enter new years blind as quotas arrive late, targets shift faster and AI fails to fix mounting planning and commission chaos. Read...

ABBYY secures 22 new AI and OCR patents, expanding its portfolio beyond 400 as document automation rivals race to protect key technologies. Read...

The OpenAI leader, and much of the tech industry, is throwing support behind Anthropic. Read...

Contrast links its sensors with ServiceNow workflows to sync app and API risk data, aiming to cut false positives and speed remediation. Read...

Spotify is launching a new feature that can make transitions between songs even smoother. Premium users can now automatically sort and rearrange their playlists based on BPM (tempo) and key, allowing songs to flow together more naturally. If you’re a Premium user, you can activate the feature by visiting a playlist and selecting Mix > Edit > Smart Reorder, upon which Spotify will analyze and sort the songs with a single tap. You only need to save the change for it to take effect. The new feature builds on the custom transitions feature that came out last year, and the goal is to allow you to craft more DJ-like listening experiences. According to Spotify, users have already streamed over 220 hours of such mixed playlists. Read...

HIROH debuts a quantum-ready, end-to-end encrypted phone platform, bundling secure calls and messaging into its premium HIROH Phone. Read...

Firstup unveils new personalisation tools to tailor employee homepages, refine content targeting and expand analytics for HR integrations. Read...

What if I said you could immediately upgrade your home office, living room, or even bedroom with something really useful for less than $10? Wherever your “charging station” happens to be, you should consider leveling it up with this Addtam outlet extender. It’s now on sale for $8.99 (was $14.99) and it’s so dang practical! What makes this awesome gadget worth getting? Well, it plugs right into your regular outlet plate and effectively turns 2 outlets into 9 ports: 5x AC outlets, 3x USB-A ports, and 1x USB-C port. Instead of hogging it up with bulky power adapters or old-school power strips, this outlet extender is all you need for a convenient, decluttered charging station. I like that it has a built-in night light (which you can turn off with a quick tap), and I also like that it has both a screw and a stability rod so it stays firmly mounted to your receptacle. The USB-C maxes out at 15 watts while the USB-As max out at 12 watts, and the whole thing has safety guards against short-circuits, surges, hot temperatures, and more. Go ahead and get yourself one of these for 40% off and instantly upgrade any room in your house! It’s a small price to pay for a big step up—much bigger than you’d expect. Save 40% on this 9-port outlet extender for charging your devices Buy now at Amazon Read...

Sweep debuts Multi-Org Agent to map complex Salesforce estates, cutting analysis from months to days and easing consolidation and AI rollout. Read...

Acer’s Swift series is a step above its lowest budget offerings. So it’s a bit surprising to see the company offering one on eBay, where its official store has been going ham with good refurb deals for the last few months. Today you can get a sleek Swift Go 14 with 16GB of RAM and an upgraded 1TB SSD for $371.99, over half off the retail price. The Swift Go 14 uses an Intel Core Ultra 57155H, a 16-core (6/10) Meteor Lake design that debuted in late 2023. So this isn’t the latest and greatest in terms of mobile hardware, but with DDR5 memory and Arc graphics, this laptop should still be able to handle everything except the heaviest games and media applications. 16GB of RAM is the least I would recommend for Windows 11, and the storage is about double what you’ll find on even the most generous laptop at the $500 level. This laptop also gets a better-than-budget 16:10 14-inch display, which is also touch-sensitive, an integrated fingerprint reader, media controls that light up on the touchpad, and plenty of ports. Two USB-C, two USB-A, and full-sized HDMI, plus a MicroSD card reader should cover most users without a dock. But the real star has to be the battery life. In PCWorld’s review, the 65 watt-hour battery managed “epic” battery life, going for almost 15 hours on a 4K video run. You can expect a good bit less than that for regular web browsing or streaming, but it should still get you through a full workday with no problem. This is a refurbished laptop, but coming directly from Acer and with a two-year Allstate warranty, it’s a much safer call than that usually implies. It’s a great deal on a budget machine with a few extra bells and whistles, especially if you need a laptop that will last a long time on a charge. If you prefer something new instead, then check out this deal from earlier in the week, or read PCWorld’s roundup of the best laptops. Get an Acer touchscreen laptop with 16GB and 1TB for $372View Deal Read...