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While Bitcoin is growing in value and attracting more and more capital, it is hard to make a case for it as a payment method these days. Sure, you can buy things with Bitcoin, but fact of the matter is it lacks mainstream appeal among businesses -- at least right now.

It is easy to see why: it's incredibly volatile and the fees are high too. So, if you want to buy something with Bitcoin you will probably pay more than if you were to use dollars or euros, for instance. This is something that Valve has experienced as well and it is doing something rather interesting to make things better for Steam customers: it's dropped Bitcoin as a payment method altogether.

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As online retailers gear up for their busiest period of the year, how prepared are they to face the threat of cyber attacks?

A new study from cyber security company Tripwire reveals that just 28 percent of respondents say they have a fully tested plan in place in the event of a security breach.

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Secure Shell (SSH) provides a secure channel for communication over unsecured networks and is therefore a popular technology in the financial services sector.

But a new study for machine identity protection company Venafi shows that even though SSH keys provide the highest levels of administrative access, they are routinely untracked, unmanaged and poorly secured.

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Bitcoin's growth this year seems to know no limit, as the most valuable cryptocurrency continues to set new price records and lead the market to new highs. Today, it broke $15,000, just over a week after it crossed the $10,000 mark for the first time.

Yes, that's right, Bitcoin rose by 50 percent in just a few days. It's hard to wrap your head around that, considering that it was only trading for around $1,000 on January 1. Yes, Bitcoin is up 1,500 percent already.

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Endpoint protection company enSilo has used this week's Black Hat Europe conference in London to reveal how Microsoft Windows features can be used to slip malicious ransomware and other threats past most updated, market-leading AV products.

enSilo researchers demonstrated how, by manipulating how Windows handles file transactions, they could pass off malicious actions as benign, legitimate processes, even if they use known malicious code.

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Wireless headphones are rather common nowadays, especially with many manufacturers removing the traditional 3.5mm audio jack from smartphones. While you can opt for a set that connect by USB-C or Lightning, Bluetooth is much more elegant. True, they have to be charged regularly which is a valid pain point, but for many, the benefits simply outweigh the negatives.

One group of consumers that can benefit greatly from wireless headphones are those that exercise, including runners. When working out or running, traditional wired headphones can get tangled, caught on machines, or pull on ears -- very annoying. Today, JBL and Under Armour unveil a new set of Bluetooth headphones that should have athletic consumers giddy. Called "UA Sport Wireless Flex," they rest around your neck for maximum comfort. To make them stand out, they have a pretty cool feature not found on most other headphones -- LED lighting for nighttime safety.

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We are right in the middle of the holiday shopping season. If you haven’t yet started buying Christmas gifts for friends and family, you should probably start soon. After all, you don’t want to be stuck on long lines because you waited until the last minute, right?

If you are stumped regarding what present to get for that technology enthusiast in your life, Logitech is hoping to inspire you. You see, today, the company launches three new bundles built around its popular Circle 2 Wi-Fi camera. Even better, the bundles will get big discounts starting this Sunday.

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Cliqz has released Ghostery 8.0 for Chrome, as well as updates for Firefox and Opera users. The extension provides protection against tracking technologies and intrusive ads to boost browser privacy.

Version 8.0 implements a new heuristic approach to antitracking and ad-blocking, allowing the extension to protect user data based on behavior rather than relying exclusively on a known blocklist. The blocklist feature remains, and is joined by a simplified user interface as well as a handful of new advanced features to keep both novices and experienced users happy.

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While major Android releases get the biggest new features, there is something in store for minor updates as well. With the introduction of Android 8.1 Oreo, Google made a number of interesting changes to the most popular mobile operating system that should make it run better on a very important category of devices: entry-level smartphones.

Android Oreo (Go edition), which is part of of Android 8.1 Oreo, is optimized for devices with less than 1GB of RAM. Google says that it gets improved memory usage, optimized Google-made apps, increased hardware targeting options for developers and higher visibility for apps that target this category of handsets on Google Play.

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Apple TV users in more than 100 countries now have access to Amazon Prime Video. The arrival of the streaming service means that anyone with an Apple TV 4K or an older model can enjoy a plethora of movies and Prime Original series.

On top of this, in the US, the Apple TV app brings live sports to iPhone, iPad and Apple TV users. There are already a number of supported sports apps within the Apple TV app, including those from ESPN and the NBA, and more will be added.

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Companies don't have an understanding of their public cloud spend, with 75 percent either overspending relative to their budget, or simply not knowing how much they are spending.

A study by cloud optimization service Densify shows while the majority of organizations have budgeted spend for public cloud, most don't know how much their company spends monthly on these services.

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Interacting with BetaNews -- and countless other websites -- means making use of the Disqus commenting system. Today the firm has been acquired by "marketing technology company" Zeta Global.

Disqus says that "we still are and will remain the same Disqus that you know and use," but there will be concerns from users that the company is being taken over by one with a vested interested in marketing and, therefore, user data.

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The introduction of low code platforms has led to more and more applications being developed outside of the IT department.

A new report from development platform company Kintone reveals that one in five executives say more than 50 percent of their applications were developed outside their IT department.

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When predicting the price of Bitcoin you have to keep in mind one thing: you will get it wrong. It's a futile exercise. It is simply impossible to tell where Bitcoin will end up at some point, simply because its evolution is like nothing we have ever seen.

Since the beginning of the year, when it traded for under $1,000, and until today, when it broke $13,000 for the first time, Bitcoin has set record after record, basically making of fool of everyone who said it will tank -- at least so far.

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Third-party Android and iOS keyboard ai-type is at the center of something of a privacy nightmare after a misconfigured database leaked the personal details of more than 31 million of its users.

Researchers at Kromtech Security Center discovered an unprotected database had been exposed by developers, revealing incredibly detailed information about its users. The database was found to be freely available for anyone to download, with no password required to access a treasure trove of information.

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