Happy birthday Photoshop -- 25 years old today!

25 years

http://youtu.be/QmYc1MNJaQc

These days there are a lot of image editors to choose from, and they run on computers, the web, smartphones and tablets. Whatever your price range you’ll find one to suit. For me, however, there’s really only one photo editor, and that’s Photoshop. I’ve been relying on it for work and home image editing for a good 15 years (probably longer) and while I’ve used other rival packages, I always end up returning to Adobe’s powerful suite.

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Don't go to RedTube without protection -- the adult site could give you a nasty infection [updated]

redtube condom

Yesterday I reported how Jamie Oliver’s website was serving up malware to unsuspecting visitors. It was a problem that was quickly fixed, but a worrying one seeing as the website has over 10 million visitors a month.

Now today, Malwarebytes -- which first discovered the Jamie Oliver exploit -- reports another compromised site that’s even more popular. Adult website RedTube.com sees over 300 million visits a month (some shorter than others), and currently has a malicious iframe in its source code.

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40 percent more PlayStation 4s in use than Xbox Ones by 2019

PS4

Over the holiday buying season, Microsoft managed to sell more Xbox One consoles in the US and UK than Sony sold PlayStation 4s, but globally Sony's console retains a healthy lead. Both companies like to lump together the current and previous generations of console, which makes comparing the Xbox One and PS4's sales tricky, but provides us with a general overview. During the holiday season, Microsoft sold 6.6 million Xbox consoles (360 and One) worldwide, while Sony sold 7.5 million PlayStations (PS4 and PS3). In 2014, Sony was the clear leader, having sold 18.8 million PlayStations, while Microsoft managed just 12.1 million Xboxes.

Obviously there’s still a long way to go, and a lot to play for in the latest round of the console wars and anything could happen in the next four or five years. Windows 10 could give the Xbox One a huge boost, and a run of great Xbox exclusive games could make a big difference too. However, the latest forecast from Strategy Analytics doesn’t see things improving for Microsoft in the coming years -- quite the opposite in fact.

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Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver serves up an unpleasant malware surprise

JamieOliver2

Most web-based threats come from malicious adverts placed on websites (aka malvertising), but Malwarebytes has discovered a well hidden malicious injection on the official website of Jamie Oliver which redirects unsuspecting visitors to an exploit kit.

The compromised site -- www.jamieoliver.com -- is currently ranked 519 in the UK (5,280 in the world), according to Alexa, with around 10 million visitors a month, which makes it a valuable target for hackers.

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Raspberry Pi sales surpass 5 million -- now most successful UK computer manufacturer ever

Raspberry Pi 2

It’s fair to say Raspberry Pi, the super-affordable ARM GNU/Linux computer, has been a massive success. Originally envisaged as a way to get kids coding again as they did in the 1980s and 1990s, the device has found a massive fan base outside of the education system, and has been selling in impressive quantities since its launch in 2012.

The British success story sold more than a million units in its first year, but since then the pace has picked up, and the Raspberry Pi Foundation has just tweeted some staggering news -- it has now sold more than 5 million Raspberry Pis worldwide.

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File sharing site RapidShare is no more

rapidshare logo

Things were seriously rocky for file sharing sites after MegaUpload was raided and shutdown three years ago. Several other sharing sites voluntarily closed their doors shortly after to avoid suffering the same fate, but since then it’s been relatively calm and business as usual among file sharing services.

So it’s a bit of a surprise (albeit not a massive one) to hear that Switzerland-based RapidShare, one of the first file hosting and sharing services on the Internet, is to shut down next month.

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Anonymous targets ISIS: 'You are a virus -- we are the cure'

anonymous

A month ago hacker collective Anonymous vowed to go after terrorists, and shortly afterwards took down its first target, ansar-alhaqq.net.

That was just the first shot in Anonymous’ war on terror and the hacktivists have been actively targeting Islamic State-related Twitter and Facebook accounts to reduce the terrorist group’s ability to spread its message online.

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Big names lined up for the Wearable Technology Show

wearable tech

If CES is any indication, wearable technology is going to be huge this year, so it’s no surprise that the Wearable Technology Show has doubled in size for its second outing.

Boasting twice as many exhibitors and product launches as last year, the UK show moves to a new home at ExCeL in London, and will be co-located with the Augmented Reality Show, an event dedicated to AR, VR and smart glasses.

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The evolution of wireless generations -- from 1G to LTE Advanced

speed fast highway

The first mobile phones were released back in 1984 and were capable of making and receiving phone calls, but nothing else. Analog "brick" phones were large, heavy, and very dumb. You couldn’t send or receive data on them.

In 1991 that changed with the arrival of 2G technology which introduced the wonders of text messaging, and even email. Ten years later 3G changed the game entirely, and of course in 2009 4G/LTE arrived, making it possible to stream movies on your mobile.

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Raspberry Pi 2 arrives -- will run Windows 10!

Raspberry Pi 2

The original Raspberry Pi Model B launched back in 2012, and got a big update in the form of the B+ last year. However, the core of the device -- the Broadcom BCM2835 application processor -- has stayed the same in all that time.

Given how much technology changes and improves in just the space of a single year, the Raspberry Pi was long overdue for a processor refresh, and today the Foundation launches the new and improved Raspberry Pi 2.

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Windows 8.1's market share remains utter rubbish

trash

Last month, web analytics firm NetMarketShare released its usual batch of monthly desktop operating system usage share figures, and it showed Windows 8.x tumbling dramatically. The figure made little sense, and a day later the firm released revised data which showed the tiled OS still shedding a large chunk of share, but not quite as badly.

In December’s revised figures NetMarketShare had the OS falling 5.13 percentage points for a total share of 13.52 percent, placing it back way below Windows XP. This meant January’s figures were always going to be interesting. Surely the tiled OS would rally wouldn’t it? But of course this is Windows 8.x, Microsoft’s least successful operating system in recent memory, so no. Its usage share remains utterly rubbish.

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How the 'Health of Things' could replace your trip to the doctors [Q&A]

Dcotors waiting room

One of the biggest trends of this year's CES was the "Health of Things", with wearable technology increasingly being connected to healthcare in order to enhance users' lives.

I spoke to health tech specialist Nudge about what exactly the "Health of Things" means to the general consumer and the impact it's having -- and will have -- on the tech and healthcare industries.

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Microsoft OneDrive is now the place for your photos

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Microsoft wants its cloud storage service to be the best place for all of your photos, and so is debuting new ways to import, organize, find, improve, and share them.

According to Douglas Pearce, OneDrive’s Group Program Manager, major updates coming over the next couple of weeks include: "the ability for customers to curate photos from their phone, desktop and inbox quickly and simply; a new feature that allows you to view, manage, and share photos with Albums; and finally, through a partnership with Bing, customers can now search for their files and photos in a new and exciting way!"

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Get Cortana working in Windows 10 in the UK, and other non-US countries

cortana

One of the biggest new features in the latest build of Windows 10 is Cortana. Microsoft is bringing its virtual assistant to the desktop, and if you install Build 9926 you can see what she’s capable of right now. Well, you can if you’re in the US at least.

If you live outside of America, in the UK for example, if you summon Cortana you’ll be told she’s "not available to help in your region", which is a bit rubbish. Fortunately, there are ways around this silly restriction.

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Unlock Windows 10's hidden secrets

old start

Microsoft released Build 9926 of the Windows 10 Technical Preview on Friday, and so far we’re liking what we see. There are a few issues with it, naturally, but it’s definitely a giant leap in the right direction (for the most part anyway).

There are several hidden features available, but not activated, in this new build, which are well worth exploring and so we’ve put together this handy guide explaining how to get them all working.

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