Watch the final Democratic debate live on YouTube
It's that time of the year. Campaign season, like the holiday shopping season, seems to begin earlier all the time. It's fascinating in some inexplicable way, but then again people slow down to look at car wrecks also. Regardless of who you are throwing your vote behind, it's good to watch the seemingly endless debates to get a feel for each candidate in the presidential election. And with Iowa right around the corner it's crunch time.
Tonight is the final Democratic debate and, unlike the plethora of folks on stage in the Republican contests, there are only three to focus on. We won't go into the good and bad of any of them, that's personal opinion and you should make up your own mind.
The NFL playoffs continue and you can watch games on Roku
The NFL playoff games continue this weekend with some big contests including some of the hot teams. Those games require viewers to have cable or satellite TV, or do they? If you have a Roku device then there is a work-around to watch at least a couple of games.
Who will win it all? You'll need to watch the games to find out. Roku's CBS Sports Channel will bring them to you. Obviously this only brings you the AFC games, but that's at least half of the weekend. Today you can catch the Steelers and Broncos at 4:40 ET.
Unable to spark interest in Windows 10 Mobile, Microsoft infects iOS and Android like a cancer
At the moment, Microsoft is all about Windows 10. Such is the company's focus on its desktop operating system, that you would be forgiven for forgetting that Windows 10 Mobile is on the way as well. But here Microsoft has a problem. Not only has Windows 10 Mobile failed to infiltrate the public consciousness, those who are aware of the impending release are singularly indifferent to it.
Clearly Microsoft is not happy about this, but there's not much that can be done to force people into using Windows 10 Mobile (although given the company's track record with pushing Windows 10 to desktops, nothing would come as a surprise). Instead, Microsoft is having to content itself by spreading cancerously to iOS and Android, spreading the diseases of Cortana, the Word Flow keyboard and more to rival platforms.
LastPass has serious flaw called 'LostPass' -- your passwords and more are at risk
Remembering passwords is difficult nowadays. Between all of the crazy site-mandated requirements and the directive of never reusing the same password on multiple sites, the human brain is outmatched. It is for this reason that I, and many others, swear by password managers. Not only do they securely store login credentials, but can generate ultra-secure passwords too.
While there are many companies that offer such solutions, I stick with LastPass. Why? Linux. Yes, LastPass is one of the only solutions that works with all major operating systems, including Linux distributions. By default, many users of Ubuntu, Fedora, Chrome OS, and more, choose LastPass because there aren't many other options. Sadly, today, it is revealed that this password manager is at risk of a nasty phishing vulnerability. The author, Sean Cassidy, has published details about what he has dubbed 'LostPass'.
New York is trying to force backdoors into phones with legislation
Cryptography has become popular in the post-Edward Snowden era. Everyone seems to be worried about being spied upon and is looking for ways to avoid it. While the majority of users likely have nothing to hide, it's still a creepy feeling to know that someone can, and possibly is, checking what you say and do.
There has been a lot of talk about adding backdoors, mostly from those who want to spy and those who simply don't understand the technology. The latest of this is currently taking place in New York.
ISIS has its own secure messaging system -- this illustrates the futility of communication surveillance
Moves by governments to monitor web-based communication with a view to thwarting terrorism is utterly, utterly futile. Just like the NSA's dragnet-style dredging for intelligence, mass communication surveillance does little to home in on target -- the ones that government should be concerned about are the very ones who know who to evade detection.
This is something that was perfectly demonstrated this week when it became apparent that ISIS has developed its own secure messaging system. No longer reliant on the likes of WhatsApp, ISIS is using a custom-built, Android-based encrypted messaging tool that is incredibly difficult -- if not impossible -- for the FBI and NSA to monitor.
Microsoft gets aggressive -- after 18 months nextgen CPUs like Skylake will only support Windows 10
Microsoft's aggressive pushing of Windows 10 is becoming legendary, with everything from irritating nag screens, to automatic downloading of set up files. Now things are taking a slightly different turn as the company says that after July 17, 2017, 6th generation Intel Core Skylake processors and other nextgen CPUs will no longer be supported for Windows 7 and Windows 8.1.
The announcement comes somewhat out of the blue, and is all the more surprising considering Microsoft's track record of lengthy support periods. Once the new deadline is reached, Microsoft says that it will only release the "most critical" security patches to these now-unsupported platforms, and even then the patches will only be made available if they do not "risk the reliability or compatibility" of other systems.
Prediction #8: Apple WILL NOT buy Time Warner
If my last prediction about the Internet of Things becoming a security nightmare seemed a no-brainer to half of my readers, as some commenters suggested, this prediction that Apple won’t buy Time Warner will probably be a no-brainer for the other half, simply because it is always easier to say an acquisition or merger won’t happen than that it will. But I think there is something to be learned from why I don’t think this acquisition will take place -- something that says a lot about Apple as a company.
That this topic comes up at all is because, as frequently happens these days, activist investors are trying to bully Time Warner into selling all or part of itself, this after having already bullied the company into spinning-off its cable TV operation and then its print publishing operation. So now what’s mainly left at Time Warner are cable TV networks, TV and film production and distribution, and a modest online operation. All of this, but especially premium cable channel HBO, is supposed to appeal to Apple’s eye for quality.
Google overtakes Facebook in advertising spend
A new report from marketing technology company IgnitionOne reveals the latest trends in digital advertising spend for the final quarter of 2015.
Among its key findings are that Google passed Facebook in growth and conversions, seeing an increase of 37 percent in programmatic display advertising spend and a 34 percent increase in conversions. In comparison, Facebook saw an increase of 22 percent in growth and 17 percent in conversions.
Interactive Advertising Bureau 'dis-invites' Adblock Plus from annual conference
Adblock Plus has been blocked from attending the IAB's (Interactive Advertising Bureau) upcoming leadership summit. The company has attended the meeting in the past, and had received an invite to this year's conference too -- but the IAB had a change of heart and retracted the invitation.
The meeting would have been an opportunity to meet with advertisers and to discuss Adblock Plus' Acceptable Ads guidelines later this week, but the IAB -- for reasons as yet undisclosed -- feels differently. In the interests of transparency (or airing dirty laundry in public, depending on your opinion), Adblock Plus has decided to go public with what's been happening.
Seagate introduces 10TB enterprise HDD for data centers
Seagate is looking to increase its presence in the data center market as it unveils a new hard disk drive.
The Seagate Enterprise 3.5 Capacity HDD offers 10 TB of storage and, according to the company’s press release following the announcement, the disk is quiet and energy-efficient.
The 2017 Hyundai Elantra gets both Apple CarPlay and Android Auto
Here's the deal, folks -- I love cars and technology. Heck, I am sure many of you dear BetaNews readers do too. Unfortunately, it just isn't feasible to buy a brand-new car every time the latest technology comes out. While I love my Ford Focus, it doesn't even have Bluetooth. My iPhone gets connected to the stereo by way of an analog cable. I would absolutely love a car with Apple CarPlay.
While I am a Ford fan, I am also a fan of value and quality regardless of make. Hyundai is a company that overcame much to become one of the best-bang-for-your-buck vehicle brands, and its Elantra is one of the smartest buys for those on a budget. Today, Hyundai announces that the 2017 model of the aforementioned car will be getting both Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.
Error 404: Security insights found
This year has been another brutal one for breaches and data loss, with 400 new threats emerging every minute by some reports. Most security administrators and architects have been shoring up defenses inside networks in order to better detect places of compromise and attacker movement. Many organizations recognize that one of the fastest ways to beef up detection capabilities is to add context-based network analytics like those provided by Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) systems and NetFlow security analyzers.
Adoption has been brisk, the SIEM market is one of the strongest with a forecasted growth of 12 percent annually reaching $4.54 billion by 2019. And recently, Cisco further highlighted the importance of network telemetry to security with the acquisition of NetFlow analysis veteran Lancope for $453 million.
Sophos Home: super-simple free antivirus for Windows and Mac
Avira, Avast, Baidu: plenty of developers offer free antivirus these days, and it can be as reliable as the commercial competition.
It’s tough for a new product to stand out from the crowd, then -- but the new Sophos Home has found a way.
At long, long last, Google Play gains promo codes for apps and games
Google has finally caught up with Apple, and is now offering support for promo codes in Google Play. This is a feature that has long been available to iOS users, but it's only after years of complaining that Android users are, at long last, being afforded the same luxury.
Oddly, Google has decided to place some restrictions on how promo codes can be used. While developers can generate codes that can be used to purchase apps or to make in-app purchases, they are limited to creating 500 codes per quarter.
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