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Smartwatches are largely garbage. Whether Apple Watch or Android Wear, these wrist-worn nuisances don't do much beyond inducing anxiety by bombarding the wearer with notifications. If you are big into fitness, you might find some value, but for the most part, these devices are nothing more than a way for companies to grab cash from consumers as the smartphone market slows.

Apple Watch has seen significant success, although I suspect many buyers are simply getting them as status symbols -- not for an actual need. Android Wear, however, is a major disappointment -- both from a sales and satisfaction perspective. Just like Android smartphones, these watches face fragmentation and a lack of updates. Today, Google announces that it will try to polish the turd that is Android Wear by giving it a new name -- Wear OS.

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Blockchain is a revolutionary technology, and it has the world’s business leaders talking. The distributed ledger system will change the way companies handle online payments, contracts and logistics.

But so far, there has been little conversation about how blockchain will help businesses increase their revenue. This is another benefit the technology will bring, as soon as businesses realize they can use it to buy and sell enterprise data without an intermediary like Amazon or Facebook.

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Most of us click on the Agree button when we install apps without actually reading the privacy agreement.

But some new research from Princeton University and other bodies reveals that many apps use a network of third-party services  --  often invisible to the user -- that provide analytics, social network integration, and monetization.

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The US has introduced new sanctions against Russia after accusing the country not only of interfering in the 2016 election, but also launching a cyberattack on its energy grid.

Officials say that malware traced back to Moscow had been found to have infected operating systems on computers belonging to companies in the energy sector. The Department of Homeland Security is in no doubt that the Russian government is responsible.

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Many firms in the UK are failing to understand their responsibilities in relation to systems in the cloud, according to a new study.

The research from Veritas Technologies shows that 66 percent of respondents believe that dealing with cloud service interruptions is the primary responsibility of their cloud service provider.

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Cloud access security specialist Netskope is launching an expansion of its Infrastructure as a Service security offering to add continuous security assessment and monitoring capabilities.

With this release customers can use Netskope for IaaS to continuously assess their infrastructure-as-aservice (IaaS) and platform-as-a-service (PaaS) configuration in AWS, with Microsoft Azure to follow soon.

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Microsoft has launched a bug bounty program that will reward anyone who finds the next Meltdown or Spectre vulnerability. Known as speculative execution side channel vulnerabilities, Microsoft is willing to reward anyone who reports bugs that could cause problems like earlier in the year.

The rewards on offer range from $5,000 up to $250,000 depending on the severity of the vulnerability, and the bounty program runs until the end of 2018. Microsoft says that it will operate under the principles of coordinated vulnerability disclosure.

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Google has released Google Web Designer 3.0 Beta, its HTML5 content-producing tool for Windows, Mac and Linux. Although targeted primarily at advertisers, the tool can be adapted for other content too, and also supports JavaScript, CSS and XML.

Version 3.0 introduces several new features. First, users are now able to change the ad environment via the File > Ad environment menu. When supported, users can switch between DoubleClick, AdMob, AdWords and Non-Google Ad easily.

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VPN tools have been in the headlines recently. Firstly, Facebook's Onavo VPN was found to be gathering user data, and then McAfee snapped up VPN firm TunnelBear. Now for users of Hotspot Shield, PureVPN and ZenMate, there's a warning: sensitive data such as your real IP address may be leaked.

A VPN company with a strong interest in privacy, vpnMentor, commissioned research into the three well-known tools, and problems were found in all of them. The developers were notified, but only HotSpot Shield has addressed the problems that were found.

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Google is giving developers the chance to build games based on real-world maps by opening up the Maps APIs to them. On top of this, Google is bring Maps to the Unity game engine so developers can make use of real-time map data.

Titles such as Jurassic World Alive, The Walking Dead: Our World and Ghostbusters World will make use of augmented reality to create truly immersive gaming experiences. Developers have access to over 100 million 3D buildings, roads, landmarks, and parks from over 200 countries, allowing for great flexibility.

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YouTube's announcement that it plans to display content from Wikipedia next to conspiracy videos in the name of balance and providing the "right information" caught many people by surprise -- none more so than Wikipedia itself.

Wikimedia Foundation -- the organization behind Wikipedia -- has issued a statement saying that "we were not given advance notice of this announcement." While the organization does not object to YouTube's decision, it does seem a little strange that there has been no discussion between the two parties.

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For some people RSS is already a dead technology, and over the last few years numerous RSS readers -- including Google Reader -- shut up shop. But for others, accessing newsfeeds is an essential way to keep up to date with what's going on.

Following the closure of Google Reader, RSS fans flocked to the likes of Feedly, The Old Reader, Digg Reader and Inoreader. Now Digg Reader has announced that it is to close, and users are being advised to export their feeds so they can be imported into an alternative service.

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In the fallout from the revelations about the Spectre and Meltdown vulnerabilities -- and the ensuing chaos relating to patches for the security problems -- Microsoft blocked security updates for Windows 10 users with antivirus software whose compatibility with patches was not known.

Two months after making this decision, Microsoft has changed course and said that updates can roll out to everyone once again. The company says this is a result of working with antivirus partners and patches should no longer lead to problems in most cases.

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Google is adding some important accessibility information to Maps, letting users see whether or not routes are navigable by wheelchair. The company says the extra data will be useful not only to wheelchair users, but anyone with mobility issues -- as well as parents pushing kids in a stroller.

Starting in London, Tokyo, Mexico City, Boston and Sydney, wheelchair accessible routes are being added, and more will follow as Google working with transport companies to gather the necessary information.

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When you hear the name "ViewSonic," your mind probably thinks of monitors, and rightfully so. After all, that company has been making quality displays for many years.

But what if I told you ViewSonic is announcing an all-new Chromebox? It's true! The unimaginatively named "NMP660," as it is called, is a mini-desktop computer from the company that runs Google's Linux-based Chrome OS. You know what? It looks quite nice and is priced rather competitively. And yes, it has Google Play support for Android apps!

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