Microsoft has announced the launch of its new “Office” app for Windows 10 which is an update to the former My Office app, will come preinstalled on Windows 10 machines and will provide access to an online version of Office for those who don’t have a subscription for Office 365.

Simply “Office”

The new, free app simply named “Office” can be used with ‘almost’ any version of Microsoft Office means that those who do have a 365 subscription and have Microsoft’s apps installed on their device can open Office from the Office app, and those who don’t have a subscription will be automatically directed to the online version.  Like Google Drive, this online version features the user’s recent documents on the home screen, which is in keeping with the idea that users should be able to find what they want quickly. Users can also share files with each other and can find content relevant to them but created by colleagues within their organisation.

Features

The new app includes helpful features such as tutorials and tricks for Microsoft’s apps and services, and users can see every Office app available to them by clicking on “Explore all your apps”.

Office also allows customisation so that businesses can brand it. Users also have access to third-party apps and Microsoft Search.

When and How?

Microsoft says that the Office app will become available to users on a rolling basis over the next few weeks and that it will be installed automatically as an update to the MyOffice app, which comes pre-installed as part of Windows.

You can search for “Office” in the search bar of the Windows start menu to open the app. The new app can also be downloaded from the Microsoft Store if needed.

Users can sign in to the app with their work, school, or free personal Microsoft Account to get started.

The Office app should work with any Office 365 subscription, Office 2019, Office 2016, and Office Online (the free web-based version of Office).

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

Launching this Office app is a way of Microsoft being able to publicise, raise awareness about, and get more people using its free online versions of Office.

The app, which also allows Microsoft to compete with its rival Google Drive, should be quite appealing to business users thanks to features such as the ability to customise and brand it, the fact that it allows access third-party apps using AAD through the Office app, and the Microsoft Search feature that works across the organisation in addition to the user’s own apps and documents.

Having a free Office app that’s available without the need for an Office 365 subscription will also help address the problem of a mistaken assumption from many people that Office simply comes as part of Windows.

A millionaire barrister who raised crowdfunding money to fight ride-sharing company Uber in court over a £1.06 VAT receipt has lost attempts to limit his court costs liability and could face a £1 Million legal bill.

What Happened?

The initial reason given for tax lawyer Jolyon Maugham QC bringing the case against Uber was that he was not given a VAT receipt for £1.06 for his £6.34 taxi journey which he could have reclaimed from HMRC as a business expense and that Mr Maugham QC believed that Uber was undercharging VAT on its taxi services.

However, as commentators have noted there may be a wider angle to this story as the barrister accepted that the VAT receipt amount that he sought was trivial and that it may be more about establishing whether Uber as a company is subject to VAT.  If Uber is found to be subject to VAT, Mr Maugham QC’s action could trigger a £1bn VAT bill against Uber.

More Than Half Raised From The Black Cab Trade

Even though Mr Maugham QC managed to raise £107,650 to bring the case, one of the factors that appears to have influenced Mr Justice Trower’s rejection of Mr Maugham QC’s attempt to shield himself from the £1M legal bill and his attempt to appeal against the rejection is the proportion of money raised from the black cab trade to fight Uber. For example, the judge pointed out that “well in excess of 50%” of the crowdfunding money came from the black cab trade, and this included a donation of £20,000 from just one unidentified black cab source.

Income A Factor

Even though Mr Maugham QC wanted to limit his legal costs liability to £20,000 in the High Court case he brought against Uber, some commentators have noted that Mr Maugham QC’s alleged net annual income of £400,000, and his ownership of two properties may also have been a factor in the judge deciding not to stop Uber from recovering its estimated £1 million legal costs if it wins the main case.

The VAT Argument

This case was originally intended to focus on VAT, and one thing it has done is to shine a light on an argument about whether it is the individual Uber drivers who need to be VAT registered to give a VAT receipt, or whether Uber now has a large VAT liability.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

The case was originally based on an assertion that Uber may be undercharging VAT on the taxi services it offers, and that HMRC may be treating big US multinationals such as Uber with kid gloves and an allegation that Uber could be thought by some to have a business model that’s designed to minimise its tax liability, and to minimise the workers’ rights that it has to offer to its drivers.

According Jolyon Maugham QC, in his statement via the Good Law Project, the decision to reject his attempt to limit his liability for legal costs could be seen as an example of how corporations can use the threat of costs liability to somehow dodge legal accountability, thereby making it difficult for other individuals or organisations to hold them to account.

Although Mr Maugham QC’s personal income and property assets may have had a bearing on the Judge’s decision not to grant him protection from an estimated £1 million legal bill if Uber wins, the outcome could also send a warning to businesses that taking on a big company/corporation in court could be make or break and could have serious financial implications.

Two government departments and a Kent-based Brexit planning group are reported to have given local councils advice on how to avoid releasing information about the no-deal Brexit plans, prompting UK. Gov and the ICO to intervene.

What Happened?

Kent Online reported that at the end of January, a leaked report showed that local councils were being given advice about how to handle Freedom of Information requests relating to the councils’ work and plans towards a no-deal Brexit, in a way that would not cause public harm.

It has been alleged that the threat of a no-deal Brexit situation has led to an increase in the amount of FIOA requests that councils receive about their plans for it, but that certain government departments and others may have sought to manage the amount of information making its way into the papers by issuing tips on how to keep emergency plans secret.

A blanket approach of this kind would go completely against FOIA laws.

Who?

According to Kent Online, the leaked report came from the Kent Resilience Forum, which is a group co-ordinating the strategy in the county for how it would deal with disruption in the event of a no-deal Brexit. Also, guidance issued by the Department for Exiting the EU DExEU was also cited in the report, as was guidance by the Cross-Border Delivery Group.

What Kind of Guidance?

The ‘guidance’ in question, mentioned in the leaked report, is alleged to include:

• The DExEU suggesting that councils and other organisations should refuse FOIA requests in relation to their emergency planning and, in some circumstances, that they should not confirm whether they hold information.
• Guidance from the DExEU leading to emergency services and councils being given a ready-made template for FOIA requests on Brexit plans.
• Local Resilience Forums or individual partner organisations being told to argue that disclosure would not be in the public interest as it “would undermine the effective conduct of public affairs”.
• Guidance that has led to the government tying ports to non-disclosure agreements, which prevent them from releasing any details about their discussions. Recommendations from the Cross-Border Delivery Group mean that while port authorities can share information with other organisations, these non-disclosure agreements are in effect for general disclosure to the public domain.

ICO Involved

The idea that FOIA requests could be treated in this way has prompted the involvement of the Information Commissioner’s Office. It has been reported that the ICO’s director of FoI, Gill Bull, has written to DExEU, the local government department, and the Kent Resilience Forum to express the ICO’s concern about the guidance.

The Council Says…

Kent Council has said that “We are keen to provide our partners with advice on how they can prepare for a worst-case EU Exit scenario”. The council has also said that it will soon be issuing an updated partner pack without the previous FOIA guidance.

The Government Says…

It has been reported that a government spokesperson has said that the original advice has now been revised, and new, updated guidance has now been issued.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

Brexit is a complicated and divisive subject, but a Freedom of Information Request is an important legal right in the UK that allows for greater transparency in the way that companys and organisations operate, and each FOIA request should be considered individually.  It is worrying that advice should be given by government departments and other organisations, supposedly in the public interest, that appears to go against the Freedom of Information Act, by suggesting that some kind of blanket response, designed to withhold information should be applied. Businesses would not be able to behave this way without being held to account in a very damaging way, and it is understandable, therefore that the ICO has stepped in.

Nest Labs, the US manufacturer of smart home products is reported to have been locking some customers out of their accounts over possible password breaches.

Nest

Nest Labs (founded by iPod inventor Tony Fadell and purchased by Google back in 2014) is a manufacturer of smart home gadgets, including thermostats, cameras, a video doorbell, a smoke and CO2 alarm, and the Nest Aware system where customers can monitor all activity at their home via an app.

What’s Happened?

Nest has recently been the subject of several hacks e.g. there have been reports of Nest cameras being hacked, such as the family in Northern California who reported their camera giving a message (from hackers) warning them of a fictional North Korean missile attack.  Also, more recently in the US, on Superbowl Sunday, a mother reported an unknown male hacker talking to her 5-year-old son through the Nest security camera in his bedroom.

Advice From Google

In the light of the increase in hacks, in the early part of February, Google emailed out a warning to the owners, urging them to secure their login credentials with measures such as two-factor identification and stronger passwords. In the email, Google said that there hadn’t been a breach, but that it was simply reminding users that breaches are possible and that there are measures they can take to help protect themselves and get the most out of Nest products.

Google says that the recent reports of hacks are based on customers continuing to use compromised passwords i.e. passwords that have been exposed through breaches on other websites, and probably shared and sold-on among the hacking fraternity.

Locked Out

The lock-outs of accounts that some customers are now experiencing appear to be strong reminders from what is essentially a security app to those who are known to still be using compromised passwords and who haven’t yet set-up 2-factor authentication, that now is the time to address these issues.

One added bit of motivation to do so could be the relatively high monthly fees for Nest products and services that customers will be paying for nothing if they don’t act now.

Other Troubles

Nest has also found itself in hot water recently after it was discovered that a “secret” microphone is incorporated in Google’s Nest Guard product that has not been listed in the product’s  tech spec.  This has led to a serious backlash, and calls from a Senator for action to be taken to help protect users from the privacy and security threat that some smart products can pose.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

Even though these are security related products, their basic protection has been through the use of passwords.  Due to the number of hacks of other sites, and the fact that people often use the same password for multiple sites, and due to the bizarre and terrifying nature of some of the hacks of Nest speakers, it is not a surprise that the company is taking strong action to try and force users to set up a secure, new password, and the extra security layer of 2FA.

This story is a reminder that it is not a good idea to use the same passwords on multiple websites, as hackers now have software to enable them to quickly try the same password details in multiple websites (credential stuffing).

Although 2FA does add another relatively solid layer of security to online accounts, Google (Nest) has said that it is also considering new security measure to prevent this kind of hacking from happening with Nest’s products again.

Both Micron and Western Digital’s SanDisk brand have announced at the Mobile World Congress that they are launching the first 1TB microSD cards.

A First

Up until now, companies haven’t been able to produce anything above 128GB, so the jump to a 1TB capacity card is a big jump that could mean less reliance on the Cloud for storage, and better performance from smartphones and other devices.

Micron

Micron Technology, Inc., the US global corporation based in Idaho has announced the launch of the c200 1TB microSDXC UHS-I card, an innovative removable MicroSD Card that boats a terabyte of A2 grade storage with V30 certification.  This should mean that although it can seriously ramp-up the performance of a smartphone, it could suitable for any number of devices and gadgets.  The new card uses an (up to) 100MB/s read-write rate, which means that it can support and can store up to 40 hours of 4K HDR video, thousands of 40MP+ photos, and mobile.

Micron reports that the new card leverages 96-layer 3D quad-level cell (QLC) NAND technology, thereby providing cost-effective storage for consumer electronic devices.

The Micron website says that the new c200 1TB microSD card “gives consumers the freedom to capture, share, store and enjoy more content while supporting their mobile-centric lifestyles.”

When For Micron?

Micron can only say that the new MicroSD should be broadly available, sometime in Q2 2019.

SanDisk

Western Digital’s SanDisk Extreme “microSDXC™ UHS-I” MicroSD card is available in both 512GB and 1TB capacities, and can reach speeds up to 160mb/s with A2/V30.  It can be used in Android™ smartphones, action cameras and drones, and offers supports 4K UHD video recording, full HD video and high-resolution photos.

Also A2 rated, the card reads up to a reported 160MB/s, and writes up to 90MB/s, thereby providing fast app performance on smartphones.  Its fast read speeds should mean that users can save a lot of time e.g.when transferring high-resolution photos and video.

When For Sandisk?

Reports indicate that it will not be available until April, and as a guide, expect a price tag of $449.99 for the 1TB version, and $199.99 for the 512GB version.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

The huge storage capacity and the speed of these new cards is, of course, good news in terms of versatility and flexibility, saving time, and requiring less reliance on moving and storing everything in the cloud. A card like this is, however, likely to set you back around £375 but you may decide that this is a price worth paying for the extra capacity, speed and convenience.

Although these two new cards are A2 standard, so are suitable for running applications, most microSD cards are slower in practice than stated in the tech spec, and most devices don’t try to run applications from SD cards.  Also, being removable cards, they can still be lost or stolen, and could, therefore, be a security/data security risk depending on what you have stored on them, not to mention the expense of having to buy another one. You may decide that a fast, standard microSD card is still good enough, and you’re prepared to still rely upon secure cloud storage for most things.

It is also worth remembering that a new, super-fast SD Express standard, part of the wider SD 7.1 strategy, could soon be introduced, and could deliver read speeds of up to 985MB/s (if there were products that lived up to the standard).