Alan Buckingham

It seems there is always a dispute going on between a network and a cable or satellite provider. Time Warner and CBS recently had a spat over their contract. These things tend to get worked out when a big event is coming -- no TV provider wants its customers to miss the Super Bowl, it's simply bad for business.

That leads us to this -- have you been scanning the channels trying to find the latest weather forecast? Your go-to channel will not be there if you happen to be a DirecTV customer. The two have, at least for now, parted ways in a battle of wills.

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Over this past weekend Dropbox went down, and thanks to all of the recent news about companies being hacked, the worst was feared. But those unconfirmed reports have proven to be false, as the cloud storage service has set the record straight.

The real truth behind the incident turns out to be much more mundane. In fact, it was simply a scheduled maintenance that went wrong. "On Friday at 5:30 PM PT, we had a planned maintenance scheduled to upgrade the OS on some of our machines. During this process, the upgrade script checks to make sure there is no active data on the machine before installing the new OS. A subtle bug in the script caused the command to reinstall a small number of active machines. Unfortunately, some master-slave pairs were impacted which resulted in the site going down".

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Apparently Adobe should not rest on its laurels, as Target reaches record-setting data losses. Over the past couple of weeks we have gradually learned of a security breach at the retailer that exposed customer data, including credit card information.

The whole thing seemed bad enough right off the bat, when we reported the number of affected customers at 40 million. It grew worse this week, when that total rose to 70 million. Now the retailer has truly hit the big time.

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The Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas has ended, and the shiny and new have been unveiled. It's been a roller coaster ride, with 4K TVs and tablets taking center stage, alongside the useful and just plain weird selection of tech inventions. Now it's time for reflection, sitting back and taking it all in and deciding what we truly liked.

While others may go for those crisp-screened TVs that get all of the attention, or the latest and greatest new laptop, I spent a lot of time looking at the products that got less attention from the media, but that may truly make a difference.

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While the world points fingers at companies like Microsoft and Google over recent security matters, in light of the big NSA scandal, one company goes on mostly unscathed. Perhaps it’s our love of shopping and the convenience of doing it online. But maybe, it’s just about making that experience so good.

Amazon announces today that is has been voted number one in customer service satisfaction for the ninth straight year. The online retailer isn’t resting on this laurel, but instead using it as an excuse to drum up more good will.

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The Motorola phone that got, arguably, the most attention in 2013 was the Moto X. The handset introduced the “OK Google” option to the mobile world. Despite its popularity, the company still is pushing the device as hard as it can.

Now Motorola has found one more enticement to lure potential buyers. For a limited time, the company is offering a free Chromecast to anyone who decides to purchase the Moto X from its website.

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These days it's not enough to be a content-streaming company. Services like Netflix, Amazon and Hulu have learned that original content is the true king. Many are being rewarded for these efforts, with Netflix garnering awards nominations for its shows.

In the push to replace the networks, and bring cable and satellite providers to their knees, Hulu today unveiled its plans for 2014, with an ambitious schedule of first-run shows and returning favorites.

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Ours is not to reason why…well, let's leave the poetry behind. This week at CES we've seen a boatload of new products, including tablets. When Panasonic unveiled its seven-inch Toughpad, it seemed a bit pricey, but specs were good, and it's made for a specific task.

Now, we are seeing a 20-inch Performance version (as opposed to the Standard). Again, specs are certainly solid -- an Intel Core i7 processor, NVIDIA Quadro K1000 GPU, 5 MP rear camera, a staggering 4K screen (3840x2560) that Panasonic claims holds 9.8 million pixels, Ethernet port and DisplayPort, 16 GB of RAM, card reader and a 256 GB SSD.

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Amazon has scored some big exclusives lately, bringing viewers such hit shows as Under the Dome and Vikings. Add those to new original content, and the online retailer is becoming a real competitor in the streaming video arena, taking on Netflix, Redbox and others.

Now the company claims another win, getting the latest series from producer Steven Spielberg, he of E.T. fame. The new show, titled Extant, stars Halle Berry, and is set to premiere this coming June.

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With the 2014 edition of CES now underway, we’re seeing a mind-numbing amount of products being unveiled. The show isn’t just about tablets and TVs, there’s kitchen products, USB drives and a lot of much stranger items, as well.

One of the biggest product lines being shown off in Las Vegas is home automation -- a field that has been growing increasingly lately. Nexia, one of the big players in the market, unveiled a new home thermostat, designed to take on Nest, and also allow for control of other network-connected products within your home.

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We’re seeing lots of tablets unveiled at CES 2014, with both Android and Windows 8.1 getting plenty of attention. There has been a dizzying amount of interesting devices, but perhaps Panasonic takes the prize for design with its offering.

The company, known for its rugged laptops, unveiled the Toughpad FZ-M1. The seven-inch tablet runs Windows 8.1 and sports a unique look, thanks to its ability to stand up to the rigors of a job site, bragging that it can easily survive a fall from five feet.

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Roku has been making its tiny set-top boxes since 2008, and it continues to refresh the lineup and add new features and channels. Now the company announces it is also thinking outside the box, launching its software on upcoming Smart TVs.

Roku has partnered with hardware makers Hisense and TCL to build the sets. The new panels will come in a range of sizes beginning at 32-inches and going up to 55.

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Android is certainly no stranger to your car, as we all carry our devices along wherever we go, though hopefully you aren’t using yours as you drive. Now Google aims to take the idea of Android in vehicles and improve upon it, in much the same way that Ford has done with Sync.

The company announces a new Open Automotive Alliance bringing together Android with Audi, GM, Honda, Hyundai and Nvidia. The effort aims to make your mobile device more useful and much less distracting when you are out on the road.

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It seems not a day goes by when there isn't some sort of news about a security breach or malware. And lately, those have become more high profile -- Target not too long ago had customer information leaked and Snapchat just surrendered data, with the latter not even bothering to apologize to its customers.

Now a report from security researchers at Fox IT claims that Yahoo has been spreading malware through the ads served on the site. "Clients visiting yahoo.com received advertisements served by ads.yahoo.com. Some of the advertisements are malicious", the company notes.

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You may only think of Opera as a web browser, an alternative to the bigger players like Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer, but the company does a lot more. In fact, the Norwegian browser maker is invested heavily in the entertainment market.

Today Opera announces it has reached a deal to bring its TV Store to select Samsung Blu-ray players, adding hundreds of apps to the living room.

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