Alan Buckingham

South Africa, as the name implies, lies at the very bottom tip of the continent for which the nation is named. The coast is a region that has long been feared by mariners, who dubbed it Cape of Good Hope -- hopes were that you would survive the journey around it, passing from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean.

But there is much more to South Africa than just that, there's a history there and, also great wildlife that needs to be protected, not to mention the beautiful scenery.

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OneDrive, Microsoft's cloud storage solution, is more than just a safe backup for your files. It's also home to the company's online version of Office. Users can access Word, Excel, and more all for free from right there on the website.

The company is also the proud owner of what is, arguably, the top communication app, in the form of Skype. The question when Microsoft purchased Skype was "How will it use this?" Gradually those answers have come around and now there is another instance of the technology being leveraged.

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Companies seem to get compromised on a regular basis and, for the most part, it's security holes in their systems. But user error can also be blamed in some cases -- an errant click on an email attachment can unleash all matter of headaches for an IT department.

Such seems to be the case now with Seagate as reports are emerging of a loss of employee data that came via a phishing scam.

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We have previously written about setting up lights with the Wink home automation hub – there are a number of bulbs that work including GE Link and Cree. We have also provided a tutorial for installing the Nest thermostat.

Now we're looking at linking the two together. Wink can be paired with Amazon Echo, which means you can control your heating and cooling by voice. For now, let's just worry about the first part and we'll get to Alexa later.

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It's been almost five years since the infamous Japanese earthquake and tsunami event. On March 11, 2011 the cataclysmic natural disaster unfolded, seemingly before our eyes thanks to 24-hour news coverage. The world watched in horror and donations poured in for relief efforts.

While I doubt anyone has really forgotten that terrible day, it has faded in the memories, except for those who live there or have friends and relatives in the area.

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Despite the publicity that music service Tidal has received recently thanks to the exclusive release of the Kanye West album, it has continued to struggle. Rumors the past few weeks have swirled around a potential sale of the streaming service, with Samsung being front and center among the candidates as a possible buyer.

Samsung has already shuttered its video service and there's a chance its Milk Music service is on the chopping block. While Milk has seemingly gained some footing with the free version of the Pandora-like radio, it has little in the way of paid subscribers.

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While the news about the dispute between Apple and the FBI rages on, security researchers continue to look for other ways into products, not just the iPhone. But as a prominent device it becomes a big target and deserves extra scrutiny.

The security experts from Israel and Australia decided to test out the electromagnetic radiation emitted by devices, in this case using an iPhone. The results were interesting, though they won't help in the case of phones in the custody of law enforcement.

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For the past couple of weeks the tech news has circled around Apple versus the FBI, after the iPhone maker refused to comply with a court order to unlock a phone used by one of the terrorists in the San Bernardino shootings. That handset may or may not hold data relevant to the case or perhaps reveal plans for future attacks.

We'll possibly never know, given the agency changed the Apple ID and there are claims that even the iPhone maker cannot now get into it. The FBI, for its part, has acknowledged that it made a mistake in changing that ID.

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The Internet of Things, more commonly called simply the IoT, is coming into its own, with an ever-growing array of products and manufacturers. Big players are in this market, with the likes of Samsung, Apple and Google being among them.

But who is leading this push to connect your home devices to one another, the internet and, in some cases, hackers? A new study has some possible revelations and insights into this brave new world of products. Argus Insights took the time to look into this matter, and here is what it found.

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It seems to be a big day for Amazon Echo, as Alexa has found two new friends to pal around with, the Tap and the Dot. No, it's not Morse Code, it's devices that compliment that previous item that may be sitting in your home. But, that wasn't all of the news.

Today Wink, who makes a home automation hub that we've talked about before and which is in contact with Alexa, announces that users can now control Nest.

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In just a couple of days the Alaskan dog sled race known as the Iditarod will kick off its freezing, snowy journey from Anchorage to Nome. It's a long, brutal trip that can take anywhere from nine days to as much as two weeks to complete.

If you can't make it up north to see the historic race then Google Maps can bring it to your computer with all of the beautiful scenery and brutal conditions. A reporter once called it "The Last Great Race", and that may be true after Hillary made the top of Everest and Amundsen got to the South Pole. Both were races, albeit of a slightly different kind.

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We've covered the Amazon Echo extensively and the company has been running a series of ads as of late, featuring several amusing spots with Alec Baldwin, which began at the Super Bowl with Dan Marino featured in that particular one.

Now the company is trying to further its inroads into everyone's home with two new companion products for its popular device, even as it continues to push updates to the current offering.

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With the introduction of Windows 10, Microsoft said goodbye to Internet Explorer, the aging Netscape killer, and hello to Edge. While the company has been increasingly vigilant about security and the nightmares of IE 6 have slowly faded away, with a new browser comes with the potential for new problems.

Security researcher Mark Yason of IBM thinks he may have found a potential path to attack. Yason plans to demonstrate the flaw at the upcoming RSA USA 2016 conference.

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We forget the old days when we went everywhere on our own -- it now seems that we can't leave the house without a phone and GPS, frequently the same device. Both phones and mapping technology seem to be moving forward at an ever-increasing rate, and now TomTom is making the next big leap with its maps.

The new edition of NavKit adds real-time maps that will update incrementally. Also rolling out is additional geographies.

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A few weeks ago we told you that Sony planned to release a beta version of its PS4 software, taking it to build 3.5. The beta was opened up to people to sign up for and now it's approaching the roll-out date. And the company is detailing what customers should expect.

Code-named "Musashi", the iteration begins to go out to users tomorrow. Regardless if you have chosen to enter the program, you will get this software sooner or later, once the testing ends.

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