The inexorable move towards the cloud continues apace, and something that remains a key concern is security. Microsoft thinks it may have come up with a solution in the form of Verifiable Confidential Cloud Computing, or VC3, which has been designed to keep cloud data encrypted and secure even when the data is being used to perform calculations.

Described as a "lockbox in the cloud", VC3 keeps data protected by using secure, managed hardware to perform any necessary decryption. Encrypted data is transferred to VC3-managed cloud hardware where it is then decrypted, used in calculations, and then re-encrypted.

LG's G4 lineup is growing, as the South Korean maker just announced G4 Stylus and G4c. The two new smartphones look similar to their flagship sibling, G4, but sport much more modest hardware.

G4 Stylus is the proper phablet in the lineup, while G4c is the compact offering -- if it can be called that, given that its display is as big as some of G4's rivals. Both smartphones can be considered mid-range offerings.

Viewing images is easy these days. No matter which platform you’re on, or what application you’re running, just about everyone uses the same standard formats, and these can typically be displayed on your device’s native viewer, with no need to install anything else.

In the early days of computing, 30+ years ago, it was different. There was no JPG, no PNG, so companies like Atari and Commodore had their own graphic formats. Even these weren’t fixed, with new variations all the time, which makes it very difficult if you’d like to view any of them on a modern computer.

A newly released app enables iPad owners to use their tablet as a second monitor for their desktop PC.

Duet Display uses the iPad’s charging cord to connect to your PC and is now compatible with both Mac and Windows devices.

When it comes to coffee, I am pretty open-minded, brewing many different brands with my Keurig. Hell, the use of that single-cup brewer is sacrilege to many aficionados, but I enjoy it. Away from home, however, I drink Dunkin' Donuts, 7 Eleven and, of course, Starbucks. While the Seattle-based Starbucks is not my favorite coffee, I go there more often than the other two. Why? The ambiance. I enjoy being in the coffee shop, as it is trendy and they play interesting music. Oh, and free Wi-Fi!

Apparently, I am not alone in enjoying the music that is played in Starbucks, as the company is joining forces with my favorite streaming music service, Spotify. While this partnership seems odd on the surface, it actually makes a lot of sense.

Back in the 90's, I got my first computer. I was not alone in this regard; at the time, Windows-based computers exploded in popularity thanks to the Internet. These machines were hardly inexpensive, often costing several thousand dollars. This was at a time when a thousand dollars was much more valuable than today.

The funny thing is, beyond using AOL to talk to strangers, we home users did not know what the heck to do with these expensive machines. Before you bought it, you would envision all of the magical things you will do, but ultimately, it was often used for one thing -- solitaire. Yes, many consumers justified their purchases by playing Microsoft Solitaire for hours on end. Hell, even in the corporate world, employees would play the game instead of getting work done; it was gloriously unproductive. Today, the game turns 25.

Microsoft has given up trying to stop people from pirating Windows. We already knew that Windows 10 was going to be free, but now Terry Myerson has revealed that it will be free to everyone, including people who are running pirated copies of earlier versions of the operating system.

Speaking to Reuters the Windows chief said: "We are upgrading all qualified PCs, genuine and non-genuine, to Windows 10". The move is an admission that the fight against piracy was a battle Microsoft was never going to win, but the benefits that will be felt extend far beyond just a free copy of Windows.

Fujifilm's line of cameras increasingly looks like choices among toothpastes. Do you want fluoride or gingivitis protection? Oh, this one whitens teeth, cures bad breath, and eliminates body odor. Decisions, decisions. That's kind of my reaction to today's debut of the X-T10 digital camera, which shouldn't be confused with Fujifilm's X10, X100T, or X-T1. Dyslectics and the visually impaired, beware!

As a X100T owner, I'm a Fuji fan. So, please, don't take my criticism wrongly. It's just this lineup is quite crowded. The company's product website lists -- count `em -- 18 different X-Series models. Sure, some aren't current and not all can be confused. But many of them are close enough in actual benefits to perplex potential buyers.

Towards the end of last year, Microsoft launched Clutter. It's a tool designed to make it easier to focus on the email that matter by moving the less important ones into a separate folder. It works in a similar way to decluttering tools offered by Yahoo and Gmail, and now it's being rolled out to everyone.

Starting in June, there will be no need to manually activate the feature as it will be enabled by default. If you're not keen on having your emails tinkered with, you can disable it, but Microsoft explains that the aim is to save you time by reducing the amount of chaff you have to sort through to get to the wheaty content that matters.

Encrypting your most confidential files can be very easy, at least with the right application. Create a container; choose a password; drag, drop, done.

Sharing those containers is often more difficult, especially if the recipient needs to install a copy of your original encryption tool, and it’s not available for their platform.

They say the key to a man's heart is his stomach, and for me, that is probably true -- feel free to put fat jokes in the comments. But what is the key to a company's heart? Money. Yes, cost savings is an easy way to make a company take notice in your solution.

Today, Google is aiming to attract the enterprise to its Cloud Platform using this practice. You see, the search giant is dramatically slashing prices, and quite frankly, businesses should take notice.

Video games and set-top boxes. They don't seem to go together, but these days they do. You can play games on many of them, though they won't be confused with an Xbox One or PS4. But today video games aren't just about playing, it's become a spectator sport as well. Much of that is due to the Twitch service which allows people to post videos and watch others.

Now the Twitch channel has arrived on Roku, one of the most popular set-top boxes on the market. The manufacturer is adding the channel now, allowing customers to begin streaming the videos that seem so popular in today's culture.

Patent lawsuits in the world of technology are nothing new, and the case between Apple and Samsung resulted in one of the largest fines ever being handed down. Samsung was ordered to pay $930 million in damages after a court found that the company had violated Apple patents with its smartphone and tablet designs.

Today the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit overturned part of the original ruling, saying that the jury was wrong to say that Samsung infringed on Apple's trade dress intellectual property. The exact details of what this will mean are yet to come out, but it should lead to a fairly hefty reduction in Samsung's legal costs.

It's always the way with technology that it starts out expensive then tumbles in price as more manufacturers enter the field. With smartwatches that fall in price has come pretty quickly as Chinese manufacturers have jumped on the bandwagon.

The last budget smartwatch we looked at proved pretty impressive for the price. The GV18 Aplus is cheaper still and yet packs in even more features. So, is it cheap and cheerful or cheap and nasty? Let's find out.

German developer Ashampoo has announced the release of Ashampoo WinOptimizer 12 ($49.99), its hugely comprehensive all-in-one PC maintenance toolkit.

Extended drive and internet cleaners work to free up more hard drive space. They can optimize multiple user accounts in a single operation, too -- no need to log into each account individually.