Amazon has launched a new cashback program to attract more people to take out Prime subscriptions. Prime Reload lets subscribers earn 2 percent cashback for making payments with a debit rather than a credit card.

It's not quite as simple as that, however; it's not just a case of filling up your basket and checking out. The Reload part of the name refers to the fact that you need to reload your Amazon Gift Card Balance using a debit card. And there lies the rub -- you need to remember to keep your balance topped up.

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The eyes may be a gateway to the soul, but the feeds of social media accounts can be even more revealing. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and their ilk all give people the opportunity to not only share their lives with the world, but present a particular image of themselves. Of course, there are the occasional posts which, well, let the side down.

With this in mind, Instagram is rolling out a new archive feature that makes it possible to remove images from your feed without having to delete them. If you have any embarrassing pictures you'd rather didn’t taint your image, you can hide them without having to lose them completely.

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Microsoft is an open source champion. It is weird to say, I know, but it is fact. Yeah, the company makes most of its money from closed source technologies, such as Windows and Office, but it is an open source contributor as well. It has made many quality open source projects available, such as Cognitive Toolkit and PowerShell. Heck, it was even revealed that Microsoft has the most open source contributors on GitHub! Its support for Linux on Azure deserves major kudos too.

Today, Microsoft takes its open source focus even further. You see, the Windows-maker has become an official Cloud Foundry Foundation Gold Member. Microsoft is in excellent company, with other big-name Gold Members, such as Google, Ford, and Huawei.

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If you are reading this, your privacy is under attack. Don't think hackers or government agencies have any reason to spy on you? Think again. Information is power, and collected data is very valuable. Only a sucker would argue that it doesn't matter because they have nothing to hide. Your liberties can be eroded when you don't join the battle for the overall greater good. In other words, it is important to fight for your rights before it is too late.

One way to fight for your privacy is to hide your internet activity from prying eyes. A great option for this -- especially in countries where exercising free speech can get you jailed or killed -- is Tails. This is a privacy-focused Linux-based operating system that is designed to run as a live environment -- preferably from an optical disk to best hide tracks. It was made famous by freedom-fighter Edward Snowden. You may not want to use the OS all the time, but it is a great tool for when you absolutely need privacy. Today, the Tails Linux distro reaches a significant milestone -- version 3.0 is stable. You can download the ISO immediately.

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Autonomous vehicles (AVs), or driverless cars, are no longer a fantasy idea found only in sci-fi movies. With several car manufacturers already developing self-driving features, and a reported 10 million driverless cars set to hit the road by 2020, it is quickly becoming reality.

While driverless cars offer a range of advantages both on a personal and a societal level, the most important is the technology’s ability to improve safety and reduce the number of accidents on the road. Statistics show that as many as 94 percent of car accidents are caused by human error. By replacing drivers with algorithms, AV technology has the power to radically reduce the number of road accidents that are, in most cases, caused by human error.

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The Internet of Things has enjoyed a huge surge in growth in recent years, with businesses and consumers alike flocking to get the world around them smarter and more connected.

However, it is becoming quickly apparent that as well as offering a number of useful benefits, the Internet of Things could pose a lucrative opportunity for cyber-criminals able to exploit some potentially major flaws.

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The rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology could be set to shake up the job scene in the UK sooner than expected, new research shows.

A BT survey of over 1,500 senior UK IT decision makers found that AI, widely expected to usher in the "fourth industrial revolution," is in fact already splitting opinions in the labor market.

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Last month Microsoft made the decision to issue a "highly unusual" patch for Windows XP. Despite the fact the operating system has not been supported for some time, the patch was released in an attempt to thwart the WannaCrypt ransomware attacks.

Now, in an even more unusual move, Microsoft has chosen to include Windows XP in this month's Patch Tuesday. Windows Vista is also included in this batch of security updates which Microsoft says should address the "elevated risk of cyberattacks by government organizations."

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Remember Stuxnet, the worm that wreaked havoc across Iran's nuclear facilities? Security researchers from ESET say that they have discovered an even bigger threat, which is being called Industroyer.

According to the company's report, Industroyer is built to "disrupt critical industrial processes," and was recently used in an attack in Ukraine, causing the city of Kiev to lose power for an hour.

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Google has launched a new scheme which sees the company highlighting the very best games and apps to be found in Google Play. This is not simply a list of the most downloaded or, necessarily, the most highly rated titles; Google has a new batch of criteria by which to judge developers' offerings.

The real aim is to heap praise on those apps and games which exude quality, and deliver the best user experiences. Google says that titles which "use many of our best practices, and have great design, technical performance, localization, and device optimization" will also feature in the regularly-updated list.

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Microsoft announced a new Files On-Demand feature for OneDrive at Build last month. This lets you access all of your files in the cloud without having to download them first.

The files you have stored in OneDrive can be viewed in File Explorer and interacted with just like every other file on your device. If you used OneDrive on Windows 8.1 previously, you’ll be familiar with idea as it’s essentially an improved version of the old placeholders feature.

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Likely to emerge as the biggest story out of today's latest round of news at the 2017 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), Nintendo has announced that it is working on a new Pokémon title for its Switch console.

In the very brief announcement, the title was described as a new entry to the "core RPG" series of Pokémon games. Presumably that means it will be the launching pad for a new generation of Pokémon creatures, and if so, it would be the first time that has happened on a home console.

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Verizon today reveals that it has completed the acquisition of Yahoo, nearly a year after announcing the deal. Big red initially agreed to pay $4.83 billion, but after the massive security breach that resulted in over one billion hacked accounts was disclosed to the public the value dropped to $4.48 billion.

What is interesting is that Yahoo will not operate as an individual subsidiary, as you might expect. Instead, Verizon will combine it with AOL under a different brand, called Oath, which it describes as a "diverse house of more than 50 media and technology brands that engages more than a billion people around the world."

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If you thought the concept of a sound card was dead, you'd be wrong, but I wouldn't blame you for thinking it. After all, on-board motherboard sound is often excellent, and many people will choose a USB DAC nowadays as an upgrade.

Today, Creative unveils a new PCIe sound card that will get you excited. Called "Sound BlasterX AE-5," it is chock full of features and impressive specs. While overkill for most, it features an insane 32-bit/384kHz DAC. It offers connectivity for a 5.1 speaker setup. Since this is a gaming product in 2017, it of course has RGB lighting -- it comes with attachable RGB light strips to illuminate your case. While this card is designed for gamers, it will also be ideal for audiophiles listening to music.

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Following the WannaCry attack last month, ransomware was one of the big topics at the recent Infosecurity Europe event in London.

The worldwide assault woke many businesses and organizations up to the real danger that ransomware poses, but new research has also discovered that the criminals behind such attacks could be gearing up for even bigger attacks soon.

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