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Microsoft’s cooperation with the NSA and FBI on the controversial Prism program has been laid bare in a new book written by an American journalist who brought it to public attention in the first place.

Glenn Greenwald, the American journalist who worked extensively with Edward Snowden, wrote in a new book that Microsoft’s cloud services allowed the National Security Agency [NSA] to collect data from a range of its different cloud options.

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Cost is often a powerful driver in the battle for market domination. Expensive products while, arguably, extremely capable for the money, may account for a smaller piece of the pie as opposed to free, powerful alternatives which often take the lion's share. For buyers, especially those with tight budgets, diminishing spendings to maximize profits comes naturally, so they tend to favor the latter. The way to go, to capture more market share, is not to compete on the same pricing level, but to make things cheaper so they appeal to more potential customers.

This is the path that Arizona-based software company Axosoft has taken with its bug tracker. Previously costing $70 per user per year, it can now be purchased for a mere $1 per year, no matter the number of users. It is basically free. "We know, it's pretty hard to believe, but we've decided to go after market share which is why we are doing this", says Axosoft CEO Hamid Shojaee.

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Just 13 percent of the UK’s population has never used the Internet before as the amount fell below the seven million.

Figures released by the Office for National Statistics as part of its Internet Access Quarterly Update explained that in Q1 2014 6.4 million adults are still yet to use the Internet, which is a drop of 659,000 since Q1 2013

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For quite a lot of people taking a photograph simply means pointing the camera at the subject followed by a quick press of the shutter button to take the picture. It is a concept best known as point and shoot, due to the simplicity of the actions. There are lots of cameras that cater to the needs of this audience, ranging from cheap devices that can be found in supermarkets (the I-need-a-camera-right-away type) to high-end compacts. The main difference between the two extremes is image quality (build quality, support and others are also better in the latter).

Sony's RX100 is renowned as one of the best high-end compact camera lines, appreciated even by some professionals (the RAW format support being one of the main reasons why). The latest member in the family, the new Cyber-shot DSC RX100 III, takes things further by adding an electronic viewfinder (EVF) and a fast zoom lens (F1.8 at its widest end -- 24 mm equivalent -- to F2.8 on the short telephoto side -- 70 mm equivalent), compared to its older brethren.

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In the first quarter of 2014 the worldwide market for personal and entry-level storage declined by 6.9 percent, according to IDC's storage tracker.

It's not all bad news though, the entry-level segment which targets mainly home office and small business users experienced 14 percent growth compared to the same quarter last year.

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A ruling by the EU Court of Justice earlier this week has caused considerable controversy, and that's likely to be fueled by the news of the people who have tried to jump on the "right to be forgotten" bandwagon following the judgment.

This whole affair began when a Spanish man noticed that Google search results of his name brought up newspaper articles about the repossession of his house due to debts back in the nineties. He argued that this was old news now, and "irrelevant", and that Google should remove those links from being publicly viewable in its results because they were effectively an infringement of his privacy rights. The EU court agreed.

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If you’re troubleshooting a PC problem, maybe trying to help someone else, then it can sometimes be useful to list the files in a folder. Explorer still can’t do this. But, no problem -- you’ve plenty of other options.

File Lister is perhaps as basic a solution as you’ll see. Specify a folder, check "Preserve file structure", click "List Files", and the program displays your folders and files in an indented list.

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Revisionist history is looking back at past events in light of more recent information. What really happened? And no recent source of information has been more important when it comes to revising the history of digital communications than former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden. Today I’m really curious about the impact of the NSA on the troubled history of Ultra Wide Band (UWB) communication.

I stumbled on this topic with the help of a reader who pointed me at a story and then a paper about advances in secure communication. Scientists at the University of Massachusetts came up with a method of optical communication that they could mathematically prove to be immune to snooping or even detection up to a certain bit rate. To an eavesdropper who didn’t know what to listen for or when to listen for it the communication just looks like noise.

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Cross-platform apps are wonderful. Having the ability to create an app and have it run on multiple operating systems is ideal for developers. After all, it increases the audience for their work. Ultimately, for a paid app, this equates to more money. More money is good, right? Right.

However, it is not typical for the owner of the operating system to help developers move apps to other platforms. Exclusivity of an app can drive sales of the platform. In other words, if all apps ran on all platforms, the platform really would not matter to consumers. With that said, Microsoft does something shocking, as it shows off how easy it is to create one app using WinJS that runs on Windows 8.1, Windows Phone 8.1 and FireFox OS. Are pigs flying?

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Many people think that printers are a dying technology. Well, to a certain degree those people are slightly right, but mostly wrong. As time marches on and smartphones become more ubiquitous, a need to print lessens. For instance, people are displaying airline boarding passes on their smartphones rather than print it. Me? I still print. For something like a boarding pass, I have too much anxiety that a glitch or dead battery would impede my travels. Just yesterday, I bought concert tickets and printed them -- the venue requires it.

So, as much as people want to declare the printer dead, they are wrong. We still do not have paperless offices in the enterprise, and that was expected a decade ago. It's not happening anytime soon. With that said, Android now offers native printing in KitKat and Epson is pledging its support, with over 60 compatible devices.

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There is no shortage of quality operating systems out there. Between Ubuntu 14.04, Chrome OS, Windows 8.1 Update and OS X, you can't make a bad choice. Most modern operating systems are pretty great. Personally, I utilize all of the previously mentioned OSes on a regular basis. However, I have been spending most of my time between Windows and OS X.

No, I don't own a Mac, but I did build a Hackintosh. This is just a normal PC that runs Apple's OS. This allows me to get great performance and customize my machine, while still enjoying the benefits of OS X. Today, after a period of open beta-testing, the final version of Mavericks 10.9.3 is gifted to existing Mavericks users. Is it worth the upgrade?

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Regardless if you are interested in the latest Marvel superhero movie, the scary new horror flick or an indie film that was raved about at Sundance, you'll want current news on the films. Now Yahoo, which has been in overhaul mode of late, is stepping up to try and provide that information to the cinema crowd.

Today the search company unveils its Yahoo Movies. Unlike the Netflix competitor that name may imply, this is a digital magazine aimed at bringing news to the enthusiasts. "Whether you’re heading out to the theater or looking for something to stream at home, our writers will guide you to the must-see films, both new releases and lost classics", says Yahoo's Josh Wolk.

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The market is flooded with tablets of various sizes and shapes. It is easy to lose track of them all. Samsung is one of the biggest offenders. The manufacturer makes so many tablets, that it is hard to distinguish all the features from within its offerings alone.

Today, Samsung is delivering yet another tablet, but this time it has a very focused market -- K-12 education. Yes, Samsung announces the Galaxy Tab 4 Education and your kids may be using this for learning very soon.

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Facebook has unveiled a landmark release of its iPad and iPhone app with the release of Facebook for iOS 10.0. Despite the major version number change, however, new features are thin on the ground.

There are basically two major changes to speak off: support for drafting posts while offline, and the ability to now review posts before they’re sent. The update arrives as Facebook starts testing a new card-based feature similar to Google Now.

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Video is quickly becoming a must-have marketing tool for businesses on the web. As individuals view more and more video content on their PC, tablet, smartphone and even their TV, businesses are scrambling to keep up. The Aberdeen Group reported earlier this year that 92 percent of larger US companies are including video in their content marketing efforts. While a recent survey of video production professionals at mostly smaller companies, by the Web Video Marketing Council, reported 85 percent of respondents expected the volume of video production to increase this year with 37 percent seeing it at least doubling.

Sourcing reliable video production that meets business quality standards has quickly become a significant and expensive issue that companies large and small are being forced to deal with.

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