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Millions of smartphones around the world could have been affected by a Wi-Fi security flaw, security researchers have claimed.

Broadcom's mobile Wi-Fi chips hid a vulnerability on them which could have allowed malicious actors to potentially attack a billion Android or iOS devices.

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I'm not sure how I got here, exactly, but I seem to be all-in on Amazon home devices lately. I have one Amazon Echo and two of its smaller Dot models. I can use these voice assistant devices to control my television, lights, surveillance cameras, and thermostat. Last week, I bought a Fire TV stick to replace my Nexus Player, because my TV provider does not support HBO go on Android TV -- weird, but true. You know what? I couldn't be happier.

Well, actually, I am a bit happier today. Why? Because my Echo devices can now control my Fire TV stick; perfect timing! While the Fire TV supports Alexa with a button-press on the remote, I can now bypass that and just use speech. Cool right? Best of all, this is a free feature for existing standalone hardware, meaning you can take advantage of it immediately without hassle. Support for televisions with integrated Fire TV will be coming very soon.

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If you want to learn how to use Linux -- either for fun, or to level up your career -- but are pressed for time, this ebook is for you.

In Learn Linux in 5 Days, you will learn the most important concepts and commands of Linux, and be guided step-by-step through several practical and real-world examples. As new concepts, commands, or jargon are encountered they are explained in plain language, making it easy to understand. The most important material is condensed into five sections, each designed to be consumed in a day.

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Amber Rudd, the UK Home Secretary, has claimed that "real people often prefer ease of use and a multitude of features to perfect, unbreakable security." Rudd holds the Conservative government's belief that it should be able to access encrypted messages, even when end-to-end encryption is used, such as with WhatsApp.

Using terrorism as a justification for wanting to gain access to encrypted messages, she goes on make extraordinary and misguided claims about what she and the government want. Her bizarre and misinformed rant in the Daily Telegraph is deeply concerning, not only because of the implications her suggestions have on privacy, but also the lack of technical knowledge she demonstrates while making her claims and demands.

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If you need a Windows 10 computer, you can't go wrong with a Surface. Slowly but surely, Microsoft diversified its offerings, which now includes a tablet, two laptops, and an all-in-one-desktop. In other words, the Windows-maker recognized that one size does not fit all. Regardless of your needs, you can probably find a Surface that makes you happy.

The problem? These Surface computers are expensive. Actually, they can be very costly -- especially with top specifications. If you find yourself wanting one of these computers, but don't have any money in savings, I have good news. Today, Microsoft launches the Surface Plus Program for both consumers and businesses. This program essentially loans you the money, with a possible zero percent interest rate, to buy a Surface. Zero percent essentially means "free money," making it a wise alternative to high-interest credit cards.

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The second quarter of this year has seen two of the largest recorded cyber attacks in WannaCry and NotPetya, and the latest quarterly report from Panda Security reveals there's been an increase in unknown threats too.

PandaLabs analyzed attack data collected from all devices protected by one of Panda Security's solutions and discovered a 40 percent increase in attacks from unknown threats from the previous quarter.

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Red Hat, Inc is a wonderful example of how a company can be successful with open source solutions. There is this misguided stereotype that Linux and open source are just hobbies and that contributors are typically anti-social misfits coding in mom's basement. If you believe such foolishness, I feel bad for you. Actually, Red Hat, Inc has made billions with open source, and its RHEL distribution is an excellent choice for the enterprise.

Today, RHEL (Red Hat Enterprise Linux) reaches version 7.4. It can be had immediately so that IT departments can begin testing. Once everything checks out, they can roll out to company machines. It has many improvements, including NVMe Over Fabric, a preview of System Roles, and more.

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In the past companies have relied on different secondary storage solutions for backup and recovery, and for archiving large amounts of structured and unstructured data.

But as businesses need to store larger amounts of more diverse data this creates headaches for administrators as the same information collects on both solutions and may need to be handled via different interfaces.

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Although we’re still not convinced you really need additional third-party real-time protection on a Mac, you could always install an "on demand" service which, rather than running continuously in the background, will scan your computer when you’re not trying to render animation, export a 4K video or crunch numbers, which all require vital CPU cycles.

Step up Malwarebytes for Mac 3, which was released yesterday. The previously titled Malwarebytes Anti-Malware was a huge success on the Windows platform, both as a free and premium version and it has now fully transitioned to the Mac OS.

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Small and medium sized businesses increasingly feel that they're vulnerable to cyber threats but most aren't prepared to meet them.

A new survey from endpoint security specialist Webroot finds that 96 percent of businesses with 100 to 499 employees in the US, UK and Australia believe their organizations will be susceptible to external cybersecurity threats in 2017. But although they recognize the threats, 71 percent admit to not being ready to address them.

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As we acquire more voice activated smart devices, there's always the risk that they could be eavesdropping on day-to-day conversations.

We've already seen reports of spying TVs, and now MWR InfoSecurity has exposed a vulnerability in Amazon Echo that can turn it into a listening device without affecting its functionality.

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A recent investigation by The Independent uncovered a financial scam that was placing thousands of people at risk. An increasing number of binary trading options have proved to be fraudulent, and in the UK they fall outside the control of financial regulators.

Binary option scams have been described as "possibly the biggest financial scam in the world," and Apple and Google have cleared hundreds of trading apps from the App Store and Google Play after a review by the Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC).

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The UK government has been urged to take urgent action against poor broadband speeds across the UK in a new report by a cross-party group of MPs.

Millions of users across the UK are still not getting the minimum standard of internet connectivity needed to enjoy the benefits of modern networks, according to the Broadbad 2.0 report, which has been signed by 57 MPs from all of the three main parties.

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The second iteration of Nearby Connections -- called, funnily enough, Nearby Connections 2.0 -- is upon us. Google has released the API to Android developers, giving them access to greater bandwidth, reduced latency, and -- most excitingly -- offline functionality.

Working over Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, Nearby Connections 2.0 makes it possible for devices to communicate with each other without the need for an internet connection. The API is supported by Android devices running Google Play services 11.0 and above, and it is essentially a peer-to-peer system that works much like a next-generation version of NFC.

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Ransomware is often considered a somewhat low-stakes annoyance: in most cases, the data itself doesn’t leave the network and public operations aren’t compromised. NotPetya changed the game -- it’s shown us the potential of how wildly damaging ransomware infections can be from here on out. It can feel like science fiction at times, but is now utterly reasonable to consider any data or device with a CPU and memory on your network as something that can be held hostage by ransomware.

Ransomware has proven to be a lucrative endeavor: more and more central and important systems are being targeted. Cryptolocker targeted family photos. Later variants somewhat indiscriminately encrypted any user file they had access to -- and last month, we saw NotPetya locking out machines entirely.

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