We increasingly rely on technology for the success of our businesses and even of our national economies. Yet that technology is under more and more threat from cyber criminals who adapt quickly to exploit any weaknesses. The resulting financial losses worldwide are estimated to amount to billions of dollars each year.

In a new report from NSS Labs, research director Dr Stefan Frei advocates an innovative approach to deprive criminals of access to vulnerabilities. He suggests that governments and security vendors could join together to create an International Vulnerability Purchase Program (IVPP) to buy vulnerabilities -- paying at or above black market prices -- to keep them from the hands of malicious attackers.

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Chrome OS is primarily a laptop-focused affair. In other words, most users of the platform utilize Chromebooks. Sure, there have been mini-desktops called Chromeboxes, but they have been few and far between.

This is problematic for some consumers interested in Google's Linux-based, web-dependent operating system. Believe it or not, there are people that still enjoy sitting at a desk with a large screen, keyboard and mouse; myself included. Today, LG announces it is filling the gap with Chromebase -- a Chrome OS all-in-one desktop computer.

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Avast Software has announced the update of Avast 2014 (including Free Antivirus 2014, Internet Security 2014 and Premier 2014) to build 9.0.2011. Don’t be fooled by the minor version number, though -- this is a major update with some significant new features.

The installer now uses Avast's self-defense driver from the moment it launches, for instance, making it much more difficult for active malware to shut it down.

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Just a short three years ago, skeptics called outgoing Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer as utterly foolish when he uttered his three iconic words: "We're all in." Ballmer, of course, was referring squarely to Microsoft's position towards that 'cloud thing' which was rearing its head swiftly three years ago. Most of us were taken aback, since Microsoft seemed like the last company interested in shedding market share to non-traditional licensing.

Turn the page to 2013, and Microsoft is one of the cloud's most vocal champions -- with growth numbers to prove the cloud is a hot market and growing even hotter. In February 2013, Redmond re-launched Office 365 for Business, which was a big enough improvement over the suite's questionable former self that I gave it my two thumbs up finally. I'm not the only one seeing Office 365's about face; a full 37 percent of organizations surveyed recently are admittedly adopting Office 365 within 24 months.

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Berlin developer O&O Software GmbH has released O&O SafeErase Professional 7.0, a major update to its secure delete tool for Windows PCs. Version 7.0, also available in 64-bit form adds Windows 8.1 compatibility and promises faster data deletion on more powerful PCs.

The new release also debuts a tweaked user interface with redesigned icons and subtle changes that O&O claims will make it easier and better to use than previous releases.

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Your PC has been behaving strangely for the past few days. You’re wondering if it’s been infected by malware, but your antivirus package hasn’t raised any alerts. And so it could be time to call in herdProtect, which checks your PC with 68 anti-malware engines and warns you of any threats.

The program is extremely straightforward to use. There’s no awkward interface no navigate, no complex options to consider: just manually launch it and click "Scan".

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Well, frak me. I'm writing something about Chromebook and early this morning swung by Apple's website to double-check iPad Air pricing. There's a 1:30-long commercial donning the front door that is absolutely fabulous. Beat me with a stick, so I can wake up because this must be a dream. Apple has got back its marketing mojo.

Commercial "Misunderstood" is self-depricating in the most surprising way -- a teenager obsesses over his iPhone instead of jollying with the family for the holidays. It's all so terribly stereotypical, and watching you have to wonder what insanity has taken over Apple marketers. But there's a great, sentimental story here which I won't explain. Watch the commercial and judge for yourself.

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It seems as if we should have reached this moment long ago -- like, perhaps, when the Roku debuted? The little, inexpensive set-top box seems capable of doing most anything, with the obvious exception of acting as your DVR. But, until today, it was incapable of playing content from the most popular streaming video service on the internet.

There are some stipulations with this release -- well, one major one, at least. That is the simple fact that the brand new YouTube app appears only on the Roku 3. "We’re bringing you the YouTube app (or 'channel' in Roku-speak) today on the Roku 3 in the U.S., Canada, U.K. and Republic of Ireland", announces YouTube's Sarah Ali.

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As someone who has lived through a home fire, I am very anxious about it. Any time I smell a neighbor's fireplace, I will investigate. I am still haunted by the night that I lost all of my belongings -- standing barefoot in the street watching the brave firemen fight the blaze.

When Google stopped sales of the HP Chromebook 11 due to a faulty charger, I was faced with a major conundrum. I love using that computer, but now I was scared to charge it. Even though Google suggested charging it with any other microUSB charger, I was still too concerned to leave it charging unattended. Plus, when I did use a different charger, I got a warning message that the charger was underpowered and charging would take longer. Finally today, the Consumer Product Safety Commission announces an official recall of the dangerous charger.

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Since it launched in 2006 Amazon Web Services has become a major player in the cloud computing sector. It's now aiming to move further into the big data arena with the rollout of Amazon Kinesis. Kinesis (from the Greek word meaning movement) is a managed service to handle the real-time processing of high-volume streaming data.

By using Amazon Kinesis customers will be able to store and process terabytes of data from hundreds of thousands of sources each hour. This will enable them to write applications that take action on real-time data -- things like website click-streams, marketing and financial transactions, social media feeds, logs and metering data, and location-tracking events.

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Many Linux users have been holding their breath in anticipation for the 20th version of Fedora Linux, codenamed Heisenbug. While not the most popular distribution overall, it is the distro of choice for one influential user -- Mr. Linus Torvalds, creator of the Linux kernel. Not to mention, many other users around the globe.

Sadly, version 20 has missed its deadline a couple of times. While those delays were disappointing, it was also appreciated. After all, you do not want a buggy operating system, do you? Luckily, Santa Claus came a little early to the Linux community -- the final version of Fedora Linux is here now!

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It's hard to believe it's been 12 months since I last wrote about Google's year-end video. That one featured the tragedy of Hurricane Sandy and the thrill of Felix Baumgartner's amazing leap from the stratosphere. At the time, we had no idea what the next 365 days held in store for us. Now, as the year winds down, Google has put together another of its annual summaries to illustrate what we been through.

Many companies release lists in late December, with lots of nice statistics, but Google, using the power of YouTube, wraps up everything in a nice tidy video.

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I believe that every individual possesses within them the innate ability to be great. To me, being great means being yourself... to the power of 10. It means tapping into your full potential so that you can be all you can be.

In today’s digital era, there are a myriad of opportunities for expressing your inner greatness and allowing it to shine forth for all the world to appreciate. Self-publishing has become easier than ever, whether that be via personal blog, social media, website or ebook.

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If you haven't heard of VoIP (voice over IP) by now, you've been living under a bridge. This broad term blankets a ton of technologies, from things as simple as Skype and Google Hangouts, to more business-esque offerings like Lync and IP desk phones. "The cloud" is already passe and so 2012 -- the next hot item in tech is without a doubt unified communications, or simply UC, as the industry geeks call it. And chances are, based on the latest stats, your organization either has UC on the timetable or is already putting some form of it into place.

The numbers behind VoIP adoption and growth back up its reputation as the up and coming attraction in the way we do business. Mobile VoIP is poised to hit roughly 1 billion users within the next five years. Residential VoIP subscribers hit a massive tipping point of 203 million users as of the first half of this year. And Microsoft recently let loose that over 60 percent of 500+ seat enterprises surveyed are either deploying or in the planning stages for rolling out its Lync UC environment in the workplace.

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Is your desktop a cluttered mess of shortcuts, files and folders? If you can never quite find the time to clear it up, then you might appreciate AutoHideDesktopIcons, a free tool which hides any desktop icons until you need them.

The program is portable, no installation required; just run it, click "To-Tray", and wait. Within five seconds your desktop icons will vanish. When you need them, left click the desktop and they’ll return. Easy.

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