Acronis True Image for Mac launches, offers local and cloud-based drive imaging

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Backup specialist Acronis has unveiled Acronis True Image for Mac 1.0, a brand new build of its well-known drive imaging software for Macs running OS X 10.8 or later.

The new release is described by Acronis as offering "dual-protection data backup" for Mac, a reference to its ability to back up to both local drives -- including network attached devices -- and the cloud through its own Acronis Cloud service.

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Windows Phones are easier to make, so new vendors jump on board

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Microsoft has realized that the only way to get more vendors to embrace Windows Phone is to make it easier for them to release Windows Phones. And that decision is paying off if its most-recent partnerships are of any indication.

Allview and Hisense, two vendors that target specific markets using low-cost devices, are now supporting the platform. The former, a Romanian company, has unveiled two new Windows Phones while the latter, which is based in China, has teased its newfound affinity for the tiled smartphone operating system on microblogging site Sina Weibo.

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ID stealing cloned banking app found on Play Store

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A cloned banking app which steals user login credentials has been discovered on the Play Store this week. Mobile security company Lookout discovered the app and informed Google which immediately removed it.

The malware, called BankMirage, targets the customers of an Israeli bank called Mizrahi Bank -- the fourth largest in the country. The authors of the app placed a wrapper around the bank's legitimate app and redistributed it on the Google Play store, pretending to be the financial institution.

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Survey highlights need for wireless security to keep pace with today's mobile technology

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Inhance Technology commissioned iReach Insights to conduct a comparative survey of 2,000 mobile users in the US and UK; the surprise was not so much the differences but similarities in attitudes.

The headline story is that US users (27 percent) are more worried than 12 months ago than their UK counterparts (21 percent) about being mugged for their device. However, from a mobile security perspective, the more interesting data is contained in the body of the research.

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Google announces better Glass, new Glassware

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Following feedback received from early adopters (known as Explorers), Google has announced a significantly revised Glass wearable. But, unlike prior iterations, it looks like this one will not be available as a free-of-charge upgrade for current users, who will now have to pay full price to get the latest and greatest.

The improved Google Glass is touted to offer better performance courtesy of a RAM capacity increase to 2 GB, which is 1 GB more than before (prior versions only allowed 682 MB of RAM to be effectively used, making the difference quite substantial). There are also more Google Now cards available, which will display extra information like shipping delivery estimates and car location.

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Pony Loader malware targets Bitcoin wallets

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A new piece of malware being traded on the criminal market aims to steal victim's BitCoin wallets. Damballa Threat Research, which identified the Pony Loader 2.0 malware, says it expects to see an increase in thefts.

Pony Loader, also referred to as Fareit, has been around for a few years and has the ability to steal sensitive information from a victim's computer and install additional malware. This may include taking stored credentials for email, web and FTP accounts. In the past, Pony has been used to distribute the P2P GameOver Zeus Trojan.

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Paint.NET 4.0 is here at last, offers major new features, performance improvements

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It’s been a long wait -- nearly six years in fact -- but dotPDN LLC has finally unveiled Paint.NET 4.0 FINAL, the first major update to its popular freeware image-editing tool for Windows since version 3.5 was released in October 2008.

The new build comes with the promise of major performance improvements, particularly on multi-core processors, anti-aliased selections, a revamped user interface, a number of new features and revised system requirements that lock out Windows XP and Vista users.

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Mobile threats can prove overwhelming for organizations

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Mobile device usage and BYOD offers many advantages for business, but it also results in more entry points for cybercriminals looking to attack corporate networks.

A new report by research specialist GigaOm and incident resolution company AccessData highlights the need for organizations to be prepared and incorporate mobile devices into their overall security planning.

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Create portable versions of applications using Evalaze

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Portable applications can be very convenient, especially if you regularly use different computers. Just copy the programs to a USB stick and you can run them anywhere, no installation required, and no traces left behind afterwards.

Unfortunately many applications don’t have an official portable version, but there are other options you can try. Evalaze is a free (for non-commercial use) tool which converts full applications into a single portable exe file which runs on any Windows PC, from XP up.

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HTC pokes fun at the Samsung Galaxy S5's 'bad design'

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HTC has taken to Twitter to have a dig at Android competitor Samsung’s design flaws when it comes to the latter’s flagship Galaxy S5 smartphone.

The US Twitter account of the Taiwanese smartphone manufacturer posted a picture that pictured its HTC One M8 next to a lineup of three different colored plasters along with the slogan "Introducing the cure for bad design".

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BDReader displays comics by panel...sometimes

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BDReader is a comic book viewer with ambition. It doesn’t just zoom to page width and wait for you to scroll: the program also supports “panel view”, which uses computer vision technology to detect the panels in a page, and display them in order. at the maximum possible size for your page.

There are one or two other comic readers which try to do the same thing, but they’re typically commercial products for tablets. Can an open source Windows tool really compete? We grabbed a copy to find out.

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PBS Kids comes to Apple TV, Android and Chromecast

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Many of us grew up with PBS programming, such as Sesame Street. While that show is still around -- it seems it will last forever -- others are now popular with today's youth. But while we may remember a console TV and antenna, today kids expect things like cable and set-top boxes, even smartphones and tablets. Public television is moving on to meet these new needs.

Today PBS Kids announces an expansion of its reach, coming to Apple TV, Android and even Chromecast. Along for the ride, are many of kids' favorite shows, including that old standby, Sesame Street. Big Bird will be joined by others, though, like Daniel Tiger.

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McAfee issues warning that mobile malware is on the rise

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A lot is made of malware and ransomware and other ailments on the mobile platform, especially with Android. Most customers are unlikely to encounter a problem, but the fact is it does exist if you go looking in the bad places -- yes, you must seek it out.

Now anti-virus company McAfee has issued a report and the findings, while sounding dire, reveal that customers at risk are those doing what they shouldn't be. The company warns "against downloading unofficial apps and purchasing from third-party app stores, which have become a haven for shoddily created apps.  Consumers often do not adequately check the 'permissions' section of the app to see if it is secure, leaving them exposed to malware or hackers that may access their data through vulnerabilities that were never patched before the app was released to market".

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Time’s up! CryptoLocker ransomware is back in business

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CryptoLocker recently had something of a setback when law enforcement agencies managed to seize control of servers running it and the GameOver Zeus botnet. Britain's National Crime Agency (NCA) declared this would give computer users a unique two week opportunity to secure their systems, which seemed a rather precise claim.

It turns out that prediction wasn’t too far off the mark. Three weeks after that warning, and CryptoLocker is indeed making its return, this time as a standalone threat. The new strain does not rely on 2048-bit RSA encryption nor need a Command and Control server to work.

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Rainbird AI set to hit open beta on 21 July

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Rainbird Technologies has announced that its artificial intelligence software will enter open beta on 21 July, so in just under a month from now, the company hopes that a range of devs, schools, charities and non-profits will benefit from the product.

Rainbird AI is a web-based platform designed to make artificial intelligence tech available to and usable by those without any programming skills or knowledge.

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