Alan Buckingham

Just when you thought hard drive technology had reached its limits we started getting even more technology and almost ridiculously large capacities. Now Seagate, a well-known name in the industry, is taking things a step further with its pre-CES announcements. It's one of many companies that try to beat the rush of news that takes place during the Las Vegas show.

First up is a new drive that comes with Seagate's Personal Cloud system. The one drive and two bay systems allow the user to store content in the ether. This provides easy access from mobile devices and is handy when you are away from home. This is essentially a NAS device and it does automatic backups of all of the computers on your home network. A dashboard makes it easy to control from both Windows and Mac. No mention of pricing or availability is made.

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Acer, with its Aspire line of laptops, has become one of the top hardware makers. Now, as CES 2015 fast approaches, the company is descending on Las Vegas with a stellar lineup of new products, some of them quite intriguing. That's the case with its new notebook announcement.

The latest model, an Aspire V 17 Nitro notebook, packs in a 3D camera -- the Intel RealSense, which senses motion. This allows it to understand and respond to movements. Acer claims this will enable more interaction with games, applications and even web pages. All of this without the need to touch the keyboard.

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When you are the top anything in this world it not only brings fame or notoriety, but it also provides a target. In the case of Microsoft's Windows, it has become the bullseye that bad guys aim for. Sometimes it's the bad guys who get there first, sometimes it's the security researchers who report the issues. In the latest case, it was thankfully the good guys.

The problem with this flaw is that it would allow a bad guy to bypass authentication on a system by using a generated token. Worse, while the flaw isn't part of User Account Control, the proof of concept released does use this part of Windows.

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When it comes to cord-cutting, there are few options available to the sports fan. While some sports provide options for online subscriptions, the NFL is not among them, forcing fans to use "alternative" methods for watching their team play on Sunday. As the regular season ends, so does one of the best sources for accomplishing this.

Wiziwig.tv is closing its doors, after providing live streaming sports of all varieties to its users. The website cites a change in law in Spain that would possibly trip it up, resulting in ridiculously heavy fines if found guilty, which seems likely.

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2014 could be viewed as the year of set-top boxes. 2015 is likely to see even more action, as more of what we watch moves to online content, be it Amazon Prime, Netflix, Hulu Plus, the new CBS offering, or one of the lesser known competitors. When you take all of that into account, you'd assume it would have been a big year for Roku, and you'd be right.

Today the company ran down the numbers for 2014 and they were a bit staggering in terms of just how well the set-top box maker has performed.

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The news the past couple of days has been filled with security, or lack thereof, as the case may be. Really, it has surrounded DDoS attacks launched against gaming networks. Both Sony and Microsoft experienced outages beginning Christmas day. The attacks have been credited to hacking group Lizard Squad.

According to security researcher Brian Krebs, the group has done a poor job hiding its members' identities. "While most of the group’s acolytes are known to U.S. enforcement investigators, many are minors, and the sad truth is that federal prosecutors don't really know what to do with underage felons except to turn them into informants".

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2014 is quickly winding down and the calendar will soon turn over to 2015. But it was a good year for technology, which began, as always, in Las Vegas with annual CES. Of course, that's when we get a glimpse of products that may or may not ever see the bright lights of a store showroom. But we aren't here to talk about what could have been, but instead, what really is on the market. Nothing fancy here, just solid pieces of equipment.

Over the course of the past year I was fortunate enough to try out many products. There were really no duds in the batch, but some managed to distinguish themselves from the competitors. Now we've reached that time where it can be revealed. And, just so you know, it goes in no particular order.

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The market is thick for set-top boxes these days, but Roku 3 tends to be the most popular choice with many consumers. It's simple to set up and has perhaps the most content. The "channels", as Roku calls them, are an ever-growing ecosystem of networks and online content.

The steps for getting it up and running are fairly simple. The box will help you along, walking you through each step. The first, and most obvious, is plugging it in to an outlet and then connecting the HDMI cable.

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This year Amazon jumped into the set-top box market with a remarkably mature competitor. Since its release, the Fire TV has continued to accumulate features and improve. In fact, it's now serious competition for the likes of Roku and Apple TV. So did you find one under your tree this year? If so, there are a few things to know.

First, and perhaps most obvious, you need to  have an Amazon account. That shouldn't be a barrier for most people. You'll just need to enter your email and password to get up and running on your new set-top box. It also needs to connect to Wi-Fi, unless you can use a wired connection (which is better). If your router is password protected then that will be the final entry to start.

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"Marley was dead: to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that"…. Oh wait you want some happier news. Well, there is some -- you can track the progress of Santa tonight, just so you know where the big guy in the red suit is at all times.

Google Maps is once again providing the data on the sleigh ride. You can follow the progress around the world using the GPS equipped on the vehicle. There's more to it than just tracking though. You can open all sorts of options.

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By now you've likely heard that the US is trying to seize emails held by Microsoft on foreign soil, something that you'd think it has no right to do. After all, the US government may have some reach, but grabbing from another nation seems to be extending it quite far. Both company and country are baulking at the prospect.

None of us wishes for a criminal to not be caught, but we want it to be done legally. Now Microsoft has officially filed its amicus brief in the New York court of appeals, with general counsel Brad Smith.

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It's that time of the year when our thoughts turn towards a large man in a red suit. Despite his jolly nature, he still manages to sometimes terrify small children, as he did mine. However, the prospect of gifts generally gets them over the hump, and perhaps it's what worked on a recent flight between London and Boston.

The people who boarded the recent Virgin Atlantic flight were treated to a visit from the jolly old man, but more importantly, he had gifts in hand.

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Holiday shopping is now coming down to the final hours, and many procrastinators out there are still putting off that trip to the store. There is always the option to shop online, but the delivery window is closing quickly. Thankfully there are digital options to grab things for friends, family and even yourself.

Amazon has just the thing for the people just described -- it's a digital sale. Beginning December 24th, the app store will offer a range of games and more all offered for free. The complete bundle totals $220 in value if you were to buy each regularly.

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Recently a raid took down the famed Torrent site, The Pirate Bay. With it went another popular service called EZTV. Soon after, I wrote that I felt this did little to obstruct piracy, only cause a brief slow down in the flow of files, and I predicted the Bay would come back.

It hasn't yet risen from the dead, though I still expect it will. However, fellow victim EZTV has returned to the land of the living and is now functioning as normal -- well mostly, it's up and down. In fact, it's even located at its old address of EZTV.it like nothing ever happened.

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Like it or not, wearable technology seems to be here to stay. 2014 saw many advances for the Pebble smartwatch, Google Glass stayed in the game, though remained out of the price range for most consumers. Android Wear debuted with several brands offering differing form factors. But where does this new product line head off to in 2015?

For starters, there is Apple, which announced its offering recently, though it won't be available until next year. That one is, like anything announced by the Cupertino-based company, greatly anticipated by a certain group of people. And like other Apple products, it will also be overpriced in a market where you can buy a Pebble for $99.

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