Parents, monitor your kids' spending in Angry Birds 2
Angry Birds 2 has already hit 10 million downloads in three days, but it might not all be fun and games for parents letting their kids use bank accounts on mobile.
"Whilst gamers delight in the arrival of the latest version of our feathered friends in the form of Angry Birds 2, the new format should come with a slight health warning for unsuspecting parents", says Hannah Maundrell, editor in chief of Money.co.uk. "With 8.7 million 5-16 year olds on school summer holidays at the moment, this well-timed launch lands in peak season for children racking up bills on their parent’s online payment accounts".
Zero-day vulnerabilities increase over 2014
Danish security company Secunia is using the Black Hat conference to reveal an early look at the vulnerability trends to date for 2015.
One of the main findings is that 15 zero-day vulnerabilites have been discovered so far in 2015, making it likely that the total for the year will exceed the 25 discovered in 2014. The 2015 zero-days were all discovered in popular Adobe and Microsoft products widely in use across both personal and professional IT systems.
China moves to increase online censorship even further
China’s online censorship program has taken a decidedly aggressive turn, following the announcement that police officers will now be stationed inside large Internet companies.
The country’s deputy minister of public security Chen Zhimin revealed the plans earlier this week and explained that "network security offices" would be set up inside digital firms "to find out about illegal Internet activity more quickly".
Dump Google Chrome to extend your MacBook's battery life
One of the main benefits to owning a MacBook is the superb battery life. Apple's laptops can work for a great deal of time on battery power alone, thanks in no small part to the numerous improvements made to OS X in recent years. Take my 2013 13-inch MacBook Air for example: it gets well over six hours of battery life on Yosemite, despite being nearly two years old at this stage. I rarely have to worry about plugging it in.
In fact, it could last even longer. The trick is not to use Chrome, which, despite Google's recent efforts to lower its power consumption, continues to be the most power-hungry major browser on OS X, more so than Apple's Safari and Mozilla's Firefox.
Microsoft: Windows 10 collects users' private information, but not for ads
It’s been a week since Windows 10 was released, and the biggest issue about Microsoft’s latest OS seems to be in the nature and the amount of private data it collects.
We recently wrote about Cortana, the digital assistant, and how much it collects, and now Microsoft has updated its terms of service agreement to better clarify what it collects and how it uses such data.
Cent Browser is a feature-packed Chrome remake
Cent Browser is a free Chromium-based browser for Windows with a solid range of extras and enhancements.
A Firefox-like tab bar enables you to set the minimum width of a tab, then scroll the tab bar using the mouse wheel to find whatever you need.
Microsoft's Outlook gains Apple Watch support
Apple Watch has been quickly gaining the support of major iOS developers, as more and more top titles have been updated to work well with the best-selling smartwatch on the market. So it should come as no surprise that Microsoft, with its increasing focus on mobile, has introduced Apple Watch support in the latest version of its Outlook mobile email client.
Apple Watch users have been able to take advantage of Outlook features prior to this update, which bumps up the app's version number to 1.3.5, but in a more restrictive manner. The official support, however, brings some new features that make Outlook much more useful on the smartwatch.
Microsoft's Sway out of preview, Windows 10 app released
Zimperium releases Stagefright detection tool and vulnerability demo video
We've already looked at the Stagefright vulnerability, discovered by Zimperium, and shown what can be done to deal with it. Affecting up to 95 percent of Android devices, the vulnerability has led to Google and Samsung announcing monthly security updates.
Now the mobile security company has released additional details about how the exploit works. To help explain the vulnerability, a video has been produced which uses a Stagefright demonstration to illustrate it in action. Zimperium has also released an Android app that checks devices for the vulnerability.
Apple will release OS X 10.10.5 to fix Thunderstrike 2 vulnerability
Apple has promised it will fix a major vulnerability which recently cropped up in its OS X Yosemite operating system.
The worrying zero-day vulnerability allows malware authors to modify a hidden configuration file to get root permissions on the victim machine, security firm Malwarebytes explained in a blog post, allowing for the installation of adware and other assorted malware nastiness.
Apple Music has 11 million trial users
Apple Music's success will be determined by its number of subscribers, and, by that measure, the streaming service is heading in the right direction. Just over a month after the big launch, Apple Music has reached 11 million trial users.
Of the 11 million users who are trialling Apple Music, two million went with the family membership. It allows up to six users to share a subscription to the service, for $14.99 per month. A plain subscription costs $9.99 per month per user, which is not as attractive, cost-wise, in comparison.
Apple is hiring Android software engineers -- but why?
Apple is one of the most forward-thinking companies in the world. Its products are legendary, and the innovative iPhone revolutionized the smartphone market. Heck, iOS has impacted the entire computer industry arguably for the better.
Unfortunately, Google's Android has been a thorn in the company's side for years, stealing market share and allegedly angering the beloved Steve Jobs in the process. With that said, it is very curious to see Apple hiring Android software engineers. Yup, you are reading that correctly. Could Apple be planning to release apps for the Android platform?
Acer announces Predator G6-710 -- an Intel Skylake-powered hardcore gaming desktop
While Acer is normally a value-focused PC manufacturer, it has been branching out beyond its niche. Its Predator line of gaming desktops are well-received in the PC gaming community and a great choice for those that do not want to build their own rig.
Today, Acer announces its latest gaming offering, the Predator G6-710 desktop. It contains the top-of-the-line, freshly released, Intel Skylake processor (Core i7-6700K) and looks drop-dead gorgeous. Acer is pairing that brand-new CPU with a powerful NVIDIA GPU, the GeForce GTX 980.
Windows 10 Start Menu wins major design award -- Microsoft proves haters wrong
When Microsoft unveiled its legendary Start Menu in Windows 95, it changed everything. The usability resonated with consumers, arguably leading to a huge increase in personal computer sales. While the menu remained mostly unchanged for many years -- apart from small additions and appearance tweaks -- Windows 8 replaced it with a Start Screen that consumers largely rejected. Things were looking bad for Windows for a while there.
Luckily, Microsoft was on the right track with the much maligned Start Screen -- its innovative live tiles just needed to be delivered in a different way. Enter Windows 10. The latest version of Microsoft's operating system combines the classic Start Menu with the best aspects of the Start Screen and so far, consumers seem to love it -- sentiment has largely been positive on social media. Want proof that the Windows 10 Start Menu is revolutionary? Look no further than the prestigious digital design award bestowed upon it today!
Reddit decides to be a little less racist
Reddit has been nothing short of chaos recently. Users left, staff left, and lots and lots of people got very, very upset. Following on from recent subreddit shutdowns and restrictions, today the site announces that it is bowing to pressure from certain quarters and closing down a number of racist subreddits.
Having culled harassment sections of the site, the latest victims of Reddit's ban hammer are the subreddits /r/CoonTown, /r/WatchNiggersDie, /r/bestofcoontown, /r/koontown, /r/CoonTownMods, /r/CoonTownMeta. The bans come as the site updates its content policy meaning that the six racist subreddits are now in violation of Reddit rules -- and the new rules don't seem to be going down well.
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