Latest Technology News

TVAddons has been very much in the news over the past year or so, with the controversial site constantly fighting to prove it is doing nothing illegal, and did not exist with the aim of providing access to copyrighted content. In the latest stage of its on-going battle with copyright holders, the site has lost an appeal hearing in Canada after a judge overturned a ruling from June last year.

It had previously been ruled that a search warrant (an Anton Piller order) against Adam Lackman had not been correctly executed, thereby negating any evidence it resulted in. Bell, Videotron, Rogers and TVA appealed against this ruling, and a judge has now overturned the original verdict, throwing further confusion onto an already confused situation, and bringing into question the interpretation of evidence put forward in the case. The judge also ruled that TVAddons was "clearly designed" to be used by "those who want to circumvent the legal means of watching television programs and the related costs."

Continue reading →

Marketing and HR have the highest number of cloud services per organization, at 121 and 139 respectively.

This is among the findings of the latest Netskope Cloud Report which also highlights that because many of these apps are user-led they are flying below the radar of the IT department and could be in breach of policies and controls.

Continue reading →

The best smartphone experience that one can have is the iPhone. Not only are Apple's devices well made, but iOS is a spectacular operating system that gets consistent updates. The top model is the iPhone X, and its starting price is a sky-high $999. If you can afford spending that much, more power to you. Let's be honest though -- despite being a great product, a thousand dollars for a phone is just insane.

How crazy is the iPhone X price? Well, for comparison, today, BLU announces a flagship Android flagship called "VIVO X" that costs just $299.99 (currently $249 at Amazon). Yes, you can pretty much buy four of these devices for the same price as the base model iPhone X. Blu's phone is no slouch either -- it has a 6-inch display, an Octa-Core processor, and 4GB of RAM. Unlike the iPhone X, it has a fingerprint reader. Photographers will appreciate that it has a total of four cameras -- two on the rear, and two in the front for selfies. Even the battery is impressive -- a monstrous 4,010mAh with fast-charging technology!

Continue reading →

The Spectre/Meltdown debacle continues to rumble on, and now the chip manufacturer has announced the availability of a new "microcode solution" to the Spectre vulnerability. The updated firmware applies to 6th, 7th and 8th Generation Intel Core devices, and the release sees the company crossing its fingers and hoping that everything works out this time.

This is Intel's second attempt at patching the Spectre vulnerability, and this time around both the company and its customers will be praying that the fix for Skylake, Kaby Lake and Coffee Lake chips actually does the job.

Continue reading →

The wireless router is the number one technology US consumers can’t live without for more than day, according to managed services provider iQor.

A working router is necessary for consumers to enjoy smart devices and the connected lifestyle, including smart TVs and streaming devices, multiplayer gaming, tablets, voice controlled virtual assistants and smart speakers, IoT-enabled security systems, and more. According to the survey 64 percent of US adults say they couldn’t be without Wi-Fi for a day.

Continue reading →

The future of technology is about more than just increasing raw processing power and embracing the likes of quantum computing -- storage is also a serious concern. We already generate huge amounts of data, and the amount we need to store is only going to increase.

Just as processors have developed in new and exciting ways over the years, so there have been great strides made in the field of storage. But variants on the current methods of storage are simply not going to cut it for much longer. Thankfully, scientists in Ireland may have come up with a solution -- storing data in DNA.

Continue reading →

We all know cyber crime is a major problem, but just how big is its worldwide impact? A new report from McAfee and the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) reckons it costs businesses almost $600 billion a year or 0.8 percent of global GDP.

Global losses in 2014 were estimated at $445 billion and the report puts the increase down to criminals quickly adopting new technologies, the ease of engaging in cyber crime -- including an expanding number of cyber crime centers -- and the growing financial sophistication of top-tier criminals.

Continue reading →

Organizations are facing an unprecedented variety of cyber risks that have the potential for devastating consequences, but a new study reveals that IT, security and compliance teams individually lack the resources to deal with them.

The study for communications compliance specialist Actiance and conducted by IDG Research finds enterprises moving towards a collaborative risk management model with increasing overlap between the different teams.

Continue reading →

Japanese developer PGN Inc has released FireAlpaca 2.0, a major new release of its free paint app for Windows and Mac users. The app is aimed at wannabe painters with a variety of drawing tools coupled with advanced features such as layer support.

Version 2.0’s headline new feature is the addition of a separate 64-bit build for Windows PCs, but it also improves its layer support along with some minor tweaks and adjustments.

Continue reading →

There are times when you don't need an elaborate reply to a message a friend just sent. Maybe all you need to say is "I'll be there," "No, thanks" or "Cool." However, many messaging apps do not give you the option to send these kind of smart answers, which, in this day and age, sounds like something that should be standard, given all the talk about AI and clever bots in this space.

Google has decided to do something about it, as it's working on an app, called Reply, that lets you offer smart replies to messages in many messaging apps, including Google Hangouts, Android Messages, WhatsApp, Twitter and more.

Continue reading →

Robotic process automation is increasingly popular with businesses looking to streamline their operations and cut costs.

Specialist in this area Redwood Software is launching a new robotic process automation (RPA) platform that offers access to over 35,000 robotic tools for tasks like accounting, payroll, compliance, claims processing and more.

Continue reading →

Parallels may be best known for its virtualization software for Mac, but the company is also active in the Windows scene. One of its most interesting programs is Toolbox, which, as its name suggests, offers a suite of tools to help power users make the most of their PC.

And, today, it gets an update, as Parallels releases Toolbox 1.5 for Windows. The new version adds a presentation mode, a disk cleanup tool and an option to quickly change your display's resolution.

Continue reading →

You don’t truly appreciate a Logitech mouse until you try a bad model from another brand. While some other companies make quality mice too, many models on the market are terrible. I will sometimes buy a cheap mouse from a lesser-known company on, say, Amazon.com, and I'll almost always be disappointed. Why do I bother? I’m a sucker for a "sale". These poor quality mice often have lousy tracking, and even worse, problematic clicks -- nothing frustrates me more than having a click go unregistered. Grrr!

Logitech’s M235C portable mouse is a classic -- a no nonsense product that will last a long time. It is reliable, affordable, and comfortable. This wireless mouse can be a lot of fun too, as Logitech often releases it in specialty colors and designs. Today, the company unveils the 2018 Art Collection for that mouse. These designs aren’t new, however -- it is a "best of" collection of artistic designs from years past, such as Purple Peace and Black Taboo.

Continue reading →

When you wake up in the morning and read the news, or start consuming content, where’s the first place you turn? According to Pew Research Center, about 66 percent of adults who use Facebook on a regular basis get their news there primarily -- nd 40 percent of adults, in total, rely on Facebook as a primary source of news. If you don’t check Facebook as a primary source, you probably use Google searches to find news and content -- or at least to supplement your primary channel.

For the most part, search engines, social media sites, and news aggregation platforms have worked wonders for society. They make it faster and easier than ever to read new information -- mostly for free -- and have only grown in popularity over the years. However, they’ve also created a massive problem -- and one that isn’t easy to fix.

Continue reading →

Analysis of the internet presence of 25 out of 50 top US banks reveals a worrying number of online security flaws.

Threat management company RiskIQ used its Digital Footprint product, which provides a real-time inventory of all internet-facing assets, including the components running on assets that may expose the organization to vulnerability risk. It also correlates newly discovered vulnerabilities with internet-exposed components and assets, highlighting those at risk to inform patching and remediation planning.

Continue reading →