Proving who you are online is usually a matter of entering passwords or other codes. Which means if your information falls into the wrong hands someone else would have no problem pretending to be you.

IBM has been working on this problem and has patented a technique that analyzes online behaviour to work out if you really are who you say you are.

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Internet heavyweights such as Reddit, Imgur, BoingBoing and the WikiLeaks Party are joining forces to encourage internet users to take control of their privacy. Reset The Net is a campaign that flips the virtual bird at the NSA by inviting people to make use of privacy and encryption tools to keep themselves protected online. Also involved are such names as Greenpeace, Amnesty International and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and the campaign is gathering momentum as internet citizens find themselves increasingly disillusioned by the post-Snowden world.

We have already seen an upsurge in the use of online encryption, but this has been largely employed by those who are more technically minded. The Reset the Net website asks web users to make a pledge: "On June 5, I will take strong steps to protect my freedom from government mass surveillance. I expect the services I use to do the same". Reset the Net is not an end in itself, but more of an awareness-raising campaign that aims to educate people as much as send a message to the NSA and its ilk.

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There are certainly hazards to bear in mind when it comes to a computer desk job. Okay, so maybe those dangers aren't on the scale that an oil rig roughneck faces, or a lion tamer -- but they're still there. Computer workstation hazards include the likes of eyestrain, a sedentary lifestyle and general lack of fitness therein, and of course repetitive strain injury (RSI). It's the latter we're examining here, and coping strategies to help avoid the dangers of RSI.

RSI is a blanket term that describes pain, aches or general discomfort experienced in muscles, nerves, or tendons in the human body; it's an umbrella term that covers a lot of specific conditions, for example carpal tunnel syndrome. As the name states, a repetitive strain injury is caused by repeatedly carrying out the same task over and over again, day in, day out.

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You may not be aware of it, but technology fair Computex kicks off tomorrow, in Taiwan. And, as we have come to expect from companies attending such events, many products are already announced come opening day. Local player ASUS is among the early birds, as today it takes the wraps off a slew of Android slates, among other products like monitors and routers.

Perhaps the biggest news is that ASUS has made the jump to 64-bit processors across the new models, using the Intel Atom Z3745 in the MeMO Pad and Transformer Pad lineups, and the Atom Z3560 in the Fonepad series. Android 4.4 KitKat is the operating system of choice which runs on these slates.

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The best way to keep data from emails and attachments from falling into the wrong hands is to use some form of encryption. But it needs to be easy to use if it's going to be effective.

Systems integrator and network consultancy BrightPlanIT has announced a partnership with DataMotion that will see it reselling cloud-based solutions for secure email, file transfer, customer contact and forms processing.

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Samsung is pushing the size boundaries of phablets with a new device it unveiled today, called Galaxy W. The handset rivals small tablets, like the Google Nexus 7, in the display department, yet has the necessary hardware to work as a phone. Is it still a phablet though?

Thanks to devices like the Galaxy W, phablets and small tablets are two categories that clearly overlap when it comes to display size, and since there is no clear distinction between the two, other than, perhaps, the ability to make phone calls, it is difficult to define what the Galaxy W exactly is. But, before you go about answering that question, look at the marketing image Samsung provides for the Galaxy W. Next to one's ear it looks almost as big as that person's head. It seems to look far more natural in the hand, as a tablet.

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At the cheap end of the laptop market, there isn’t really all that much choice at the moment. Chromebook has the bargain basement side of things covered, but this is not an OS that works for everyone. Android is, by quite some way, the most popular operating system on phones and tablets, so it makes sense that it should also prove popular on a laptop, right? This is what HP is hoping, at least, as it launches its new SlateBook, a 14 inch, touchscreen laptop that runs Android.

Launching July 20, the SlateBook has a price tag of $399 and includes a full-sized keyboard in addition to a 1080p touchscreen. As this is a device running Android, it should perhaps come as no surprise that battery life is fairly high. The quoted nine hours is fairly impressive and this is being touted as an entertainment device. To back up this claim, in addition to the longevity of the battery, four speakers from the Apple-acquired BeatsAudio provide what is described as "the best-sounding, richest audio on a notebook".

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We reported last week on how misconfigured apps are likely to account for many security breaches. This is a particular problem for companies that allow BYOD as it may put corporate data at risk.

Cloud-based mobile security specialist Mojave Networks has a solution in the form of a new application reputation feature to provide enterprises with detailed insight into the applications that are being run on employee mobile devices.

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Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference kicks off today, with the big keynote speech scheduled for 10am PST/6pm BST.

Among the highlights we can expect to see OS X 10.10, which might, possibly, be called 'Yosemite' (the OS X banner showing at the Moscone Center in San Francisco has the famous California national park in the background), and iOS 8, plus new versions of existing hardware, and maybe a few surprises.

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The Pirate Bay saga is one that has been running for a number of years now, and the latest chapter sees one of the founders arrested in Sweden. Peter Sunde had been on the run for two years after failing to make an appearance having been sentenced to two years in prison. He had been handed an eight month term for aiding and abetting breach of copyright laws, although those associated with the site have long-maintained that they should not be held responsible for the sharing of copyrighted material as no data was stored on the site.

Sunde had been sought by Interpol and his arrest coincided with the eight-year anniversary of the police raid of Pirate Bay servers. He had been living in hiding in Berlin, but having family in Sweden meant that he often returned to the country. Torrent news website TorrentFreak reports that the arrest was a joint operation between Swedish and Polish law enforcement agencies.

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Microsoft is promising at least four brand new features inside the next release of Internet Explorer and fans of the browser could be treated to even more than that when the final product reaches the market.

The Redmond-based firm confirmed that it would definitely include Web Audio, Media Capture, ES6 Promises and HTTP/2 in the new version plus there is likely to be other features revealed closer to the release date.

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Samsung may be associated with Android thanks to the success of its Galaxy smartphones and tablets, but the South Korean maker is also invested heavily in Tizen. The latter powers its new smartwatches and, via a software upgrade, older models as well. And, today, we can add a new device to the powered-by-Tizen list, the Samsung Z.

The Samsung Z is Samsung's first Tizen-based smartphone, which, on the outside, looks much like the company's premium Galaxy handsets. It features a physical home button, placed between two capacitive keys (home and menu), and a faux-leather back with stitching patterns, like on the popular Galaxy Note 3. It even borrows the now-obligatory gold color trim.

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Ah Linux, we meet again. I am on a perpetual journey to find the perfect Linux distro. Sadly, I am finding it not to be elusive, but downright non-existent. You see, operating systems based on the open-source kernel are very fragmented in experience. It is hard for the stars to align and have everything you want be represented. Maybe you like the available environments for a distro, but hate the package manager. Or maybe you love the community support, but find the release schedule too slow.

While not perfect, Linux Mint is what I have found to be the best choice for many, including myself. It is based on Ubuntu, so it has the awesome APT package manager, while also supporting Cinnamon, Mate and other environments. The tweaks and polish that the Mint team delivers makes it a robust and familiar experience. Well, fire up your torrent and ISO writing software and grab your nearest blank DVD or flash drive -- Linux Mint 17 is finally here!

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Listening to music on a computer can be a very rewarding experience nowadays. However, we aren't far removed from the days where laptops and desktops shipped with horrible speakers. This shouldn't be surprising though; while mp3 and streaming audio is commonplace now, listening to music was not always expected on a computer. Tinny-sounding, rattling speakers were OK for midi files, but now we expect much more.

While Bluetooth speakers are very convenient, their sound quality usually does not match a hard-wired set. My favorites for many years are the Logitech Z-2300 -- a 2.1 setup, which are THX certified and pack a 120 watt subwoofer. I still own these speakers, but they are extremely bass-heavy, even with the bass knob turned down to the lowest setting. They can be overly disruptive to the other people in my home, as the walls shake. For a party, they are great, but for everyday use I need something more tame. Today, I am looking at the Cambridge Audio Minx M5 in hopes that I have found that.

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Still shopping for the perfect Father's Day bargain? Amazon may have the answer to that, as the online retailer has taken two of its most popular products and combined them into one bargain-basement price that will satisfy any connoisseur of sales.

The Kindle Fire HDX 7, a tablet I previously called my favorite product of 2013, has been bundled together with the new Fire TV. If you aren't familiar (or live under a rock) the Fire TV is a set-top box designed to take on Apple and Roku in an increasingly crowded market. Today, Amazon marries the two together with one discounted price.

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