Avast makes 'RetDec' machine-code decompiler open source on GitHub
Open source is the future of computing. Don't believe me? Three of the most important technology companies -- Microsoft, Apple, and Google -- not only license open source software, but they contribute to open source projects too. While closed source will likely never go away, it is becoming less important.
Today, popular anti-virus and security company, Avast, announces that it too is contributing to the open source community. You see, it is releasing the code for its machine-code decompiler on GitHub. Called "RetDec," the decompiler had been under development since 2011, originally by AVG -- a company Avast bought in 2016.
Navigate your way across a busy city using these three apps
Getting around a city is easier than ever and you could use a mix of transport from a hired bike, the underground, bus or even hire a "car club" vehicle for a few hours.
Using a bicycle is the preferred option for many as it includes health benefits as well. However, how do you know where to go? Do you use a GPS? Decent options, but they are designed for cars and not for bikes which can create routing issues, especially in terms of safety. You’d want to cycle on paths which are safer for cyclists and also where you can take in a bit of scenery without getting yourself in danger.
Unsurprisingly, most people don't know much about cryptocurrencies
Thanks in no small part to Bitcoin's incredible performance this year, as it rose from about $1,000 on January 1 to well over $17,000 this month, more and more people are starting to talk about cryptocurrencies these days. But what exactly do folks know about this market?
As it turns out, not a whole lot. According to Ditto's 2017 Cryptocurrency Public Knowledge Report, the vast majority are not familiar with cryptocurrencies, nor do they know what an initial coin offering (ICO) is. That's not surprising and neither are the conflicting perceptions.
Your HP laptop may be harboring a secret keylogger in Synaptics touchpad drivers
If you have an HP laptop, there's a reasonable chance that you have an keylogger installed. The tool is embedded in Synaptics touchpad drivers.
Before you start panicking too much, it's worth noting that the keylogging capabilities of the tool are disabled by default, but that's not to say there's no cause for alarm. This may all sound slightly familiar; back in May, HP hit the headlines for a keylogger that was buried in an audio driver. If you want to check if you are affected by the latest privacy violation -- and what you can do about it -- read on...
Crypto market now worth over $500 billion
The cryptocurrency market has come a long way this year. Fueled by the incredible growth of Bitcoin and altcoins like Ethereum, Ripple and Litecoin, its valuation rose from 17.7 billion on January 1 to more than $0.5 trillion today.
More than $100 billion were added to the crypto market's capitalization in the past week. Bitcoin's rise has slowed down, but the other major players saw a massive boost that took them to new highs.
New platform streamlines data flow management across the hybrid architectures
As organizations become more reliant on data, its time-sensitive nature means analytics need to be performed at multiple points.
However, traditional coding and data management techniques can lead to bottlenecks and slow delivery. Data platform specialist StreamSets is addressing this problem with the launch of StreamSets Control Hub (SCH), designed to streamline the delivery and operational management of dataflows.
While you're watching streaming video, your browser is secretly mining cryptocurrency
There’s a cryptocurrency goldrush on at the moment. People are investing insane sums, and also making good money -- Bitcoin, Ethereum and Litecoin are all doing phenomenally well.
However, some sites are turning to mining cryptocurrency as a way to supplement falling ad revenue, and a new report from security firm Adguard has found that almost a billion monthly visitors to four popular streaming sites have unknowingly been mining Monero currency while watching videos.
ForeScout integrates with IBM to protect IoT devices
The increase in the number and variety of connected devices has made enterprise IT environments much more complex.
Maintaining security and compliance is a tricky problem and IoT security specialist ForeScout is integrating with IBM Security solutions to offer users stringer endpoint protection and automated risk mitigation.
Trump signs bill banning Kaspersky software
The distrust -- at least publicly -- that the US shows for Russia is well-known. Following concerns about potential espionage from the Kremlin, the government has banned the use of Kaspersky software on its systems.
This ban has now been cemented into law as President Trump signed a bill forbidding the use of Kaspersky Lab software on government computers.
Warning: if you remove the Apple Pay Cash app, it's not obvious how to get it back
The Apple Pay Cash 'app' is built in to iOS, so you might well expect that it would be locked in place, completely un-uninstallable. But that's not the case. In fact, you can remove -- or at least hide -- the app, but you will run into problems if you ever change your mind and decide you want it back.
If you are running iOS 11.2 -- which introduced Apple Pay Cash -- you can easily uninstall the app if you feel you don't want it. But there is no obvious way to get it back, meaning that while you can still use Siri to make payments, you won't be able to do so in iMessage. This is something that may well be fixed in iOS 11.3, but in the meantime there are a couple of work arounds.
Twitter introduces new 'threads' feature for easier tweetstorms
It's just over a month since Twitter doubled the maximum possible length of tweets to 280 characters -- but this was not enough for many people. However, rather than further increasing the length of tweets, the site has instead introduced another feature users have been begging for -- threading.
The threading of tweets -- linking together multiple related tweets so people can follow a longer piece of writing -- has been tried by users in a couple of ways (numbering tweets or self-replying, for example) for some time now. But the new feature is the first time there has been official support, and the implementation should go down well with users.
CORSAIR releases 4,000MHz Vengeance DDR4 SODIMM 32GB Memory Kit -- fastest in the world
When you think of speed and overclocking, a desktop computer probably comes to mind. After all, for enthusiasts and gamers, a tower is the best option for a PC. Not everyone goes that route, however. Instead, some consumers opt for laptops, mini-desktops, and all-in-one PCs.
When you don't choose a traditional desktop, and go with one of those aforementioned alternatives, you cannot use normal RAM sticks. Instead, you must buy SODIMM memory which is physically smaller and typically slower. Today, however, Corsair is launching what it calls the world's fastest DDR4 SODIMM 32GB Memory Kit (the company sells a faster 32GB desktop RAM kit). How fast is it? This new Vengeance kit runs at an insane 4,000MHz! Before you get too excited, please know it is very expensive and your computer probably can't run them at that speed.
Top 10 TV shows of 2017 based on IMDb page views -- number two will shock you!
Some people think we are living in the golden age of television. Whether or not that is true is debatable. What is certain, however, is that there are a lot of great TV shows both on traditional channels and steaming services. Quite frankly, there is so much exceptional content, it is simply impossible to consume it all while working a full time job. Hell, even if you watched television 20 hours per day, you'd still miss out.
But what exactly are the most popular shows? This is hard to say for sure, as people consume television in so many different ways nowadays -- including piracy. IMDb has come up with a rather clever way to rank the top 10 TV shows, however -- page views. Yes, the company has compiled the top 10 television shows based on its own website traffic. Number one is Game of Thrones -- that should come as no surprise. After all, it was number one the last five years in a row based on this metric. What did shock me though, is number two!
Email is still the preferred channel for marketers
Despite digital disruption and the emergence of newer technologies, email is still the preferred channel for marketers according to a new report.
Email marketing brand Campaigner has released the results of its Digital Marketing Industry Report which shows that past year, 59 percent of marketers reported their top challenge as increasing open rates, up eight percentage points from last year.
Bad office habits increase the chance of a data breach
A new study of over 1000 US office workers finds that 99 percent of those surveyed admit to conducting at least one potentially dangerous security action, from sharing and storing login credentials to sending work documents to personal email accounts.
The survey by cloud business solutions provider Intermedia finds that 24 percent of office workers reuse the same login credentials for their work and personal accounts.
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