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Stuck for transport? Get to your destination with these 3 ride-hailing apps

Walk around any major city and you quickly lose the will to continue. Thanks to ride-hailing apps, you can now grab your smartphone and simply locate a ride from where you’re standing, without having to worry about public transport.

Ride-hailing apps have certainly revolutionized how we navigate a city. Whilst between meetings in London recently, it dawned on me that I had minutes to get to my next meeting. It would take longer to walk to the nearest Underground station. Solution? Grab my smartphone, hail a local taxi and arrived in time for my next meeting.

By Alex Eckardt -
Bitcoin mobile

Steam drops Bitcoin payments, blaming high fees and volatility

While Bitcoin is growing in value and attracting more and more capital, it is hard to make a case for it as a payment method these days. Sure, you can buy things with Bitcoin, but fact of the matter is it lacks mainstream appeal among businesses -- at least right now.

It is easy to see why: it's incredibly volatile and the fees are high too. So, if you want to buy something with Bitcoin you will probably pay more than if you were to use dollars or euros, for instance. This is something that Valve has experienced as well and it is doing something rather interesting to make things better for Steam customers: it's dropped Bitcoin as a payment method altogether.

By Mihăiță Bamburic -
data breach

Three quarters of retail organizations lack a breach response plan

As online retailers gear up for their busiest period of the year, how prepared are they to face the threat of cyber attacks?

A new study from cyber security company Tripwire reveals that just 28 percent of respondents say they have a fully tested plan in place in the event of a security breach.

By Ian Barker -
money lock

Financial services organizations fail to properly secure SSH keys

Secure Shell (SSH) provides a secure channel for communication over unsecured networks and is therefore a popular technology in the financial services sector.

But a new study for machine identity protection company Venafi shows that even though SSH keys provide the highest levels of administrative access, they are routinely untracked, unmanaged and poorly secured.

By Ian Barker -
bitcoin-businessman

Bitcoin breaks $15,000 -- crypto market crosses $400 billion

Bitcoin's growth this year seems to know no limit, as the most valuable cryptocurrency continues to set new price records and lead the market to new highs. Today, it broke $15,000, just over a week after it crossed the $10,000 mark for the first time.

Yes, that's right, Bitcoin rose by 50 percent in just a few days. It's hard to wrap your head around that, considering that it was only trading for around $1,000 on January 1. Yes, Bitcoin is up 1,500 percent already.

By Mihăiță Bamburic -
faceless-woman-mask

'Doppelgänging' attack hides malware from security tools

Endpoint protection company enSilo has used this week's Black Hat Europe conference in London to reveal how Microsoft Windows features can be used to slip malicious ransomware and other threats past most updated, market-leading AV products.

enSilo researchers demonstrated how, by manipulating how Windows handles file transactions, they could pass off malicious actions as benign, legitimate processes, even if they use known malicious code.

By Ian Barker -
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JBL and Under Armour launch UA Sport Wireless Flex headphones

Wireless headphones are rather common nowadays, especially with many manufacturers removing the traditional 3.5mm audio jack from smartphones. While you can opt for a set that connect by USB-C or Lightning, Bluetooth is much more elegant. True, they have to be charged regularly which is a valid pain point, but for many, the benefits simply outweigh the negatives.

One group of consumers that can benefit greatly from wireless headphones are those that exercise, including runners. When working out or running, traditional wired headphones can get tangled, caught on machines, or pull on ears -- very annoying. Today, JBL and Under Armour unveil a new set of Bluetooth headphones that should have athletic consumers giddy. Called "UA Sport Wireless Flex," they rest around your neck for maximum comfort. To make them stand out, they have a pretty cool feature not found on most other headphones -- LED lighting for nighttime safety.

By Brian Fagioli -
34E2D9FC-EB49-4746-92A7-47C5071144E4

Logitech offering huge discounts on Circle 2 camera bundles for the holidays

We are right in the middle of the holiday shopping season. If you haven’t yet started buying Christmas gifts for friends and family, you should probably start soon. After all, you don’t want to be stuck on long lines because you waited until the last minute, right?

If you are stumped regarding what present to get for that technology enthusiast in your life, Logitech is hoping to inspire you. You see, today, the company launches three new bundles built around its popular Circle 2 Wi-Fi camera. Even better, the bundles will get big discounts starting this Sunday.

By Brian Fagioli -
ghostery-200x175

Ghostery 8 introduces behavioral protection against trackers and intrusive ads

Cliqz has released Ghostery 8.0 for Chrome, as well as updates for Firefox and Opera users. The extension provides protection against tracking technologies and intrusive ads to boost browser privacy.

Version 8.0 implements a new heuristic approach to antitracking and ad-blocking, allowing the extension to protect user data based on behavior rather than relying exclusively on a known blocklist. The blocklist feature remains, and is joined by a simplified user interface as well as a handful of new advanced features to keep both novices and experienced users happy.

By Nick Peers -
Android 8.1 Oreo

What's new in Android 8.1 Oreo?

While major Android releases get the biggest new features, there is something in store for minor updates as well. With the introduction of Android 8.1 Oreo, Google made a number of interesting changes to the most popular mobile operating system that should make it run better on a very important category of devices: entry-level smartphones.

Android Oreo (Go edition), which is part of of Android 8.1 Oreo, is optimized for devices with less than 1GB of RAM. Google says that it gets improved memory usage, optimized Google-made apps, increased hardware targeting options for developers and higher visibility for apps that target this category of handsets on Google Play.

By Mihăiță Bamburic -
apple_tv_streaming_ipad_iphone_20171206

Amazon Prime Video comes to Apple TV, and the US gains live sports

Apple TV users in more than 100 countries now have access to Amazon Prime Video. The arrival of the streaming service means that anyone with an Apple TV 4K or an older model can enjoy a plethora of movies and Prime Original series.

On top of this, in the US, the Apple TV app brings live sports to iPhone, iPad and Apple TV users. There are already a number of supported sports apps within the Apple TV app, including those from ESPN and the NBA, and more will be added.

By Sofia Elizabella Wyciślik-Wilson -
Cloud money

Organizations not in control of their public cloud spending

Companies don't have an understanding of their public cloud spend, with 75 percent either overspending relative to their budget, or simply not knowing how much they are spending.

A study by cloud optimization service Densify shows while the majority of organizations have budgeted spend for public cloud, most don't know how much their company spends monthly on these services.

By Ian Barker -
disqus-logo

Disqus has been acquired by marketing firm Zeta Global

Interacting with BetaNews -- and countless other websites -- means making use of the Disqus commenting system. Today the firm has been acquired by "marketing technology company" Zeta Global.

Disqus says that "we still are and will remain the same Disqus that you know and use," but there will be concerns from users that the company is being taken over by one with a vested interested in marketing and, therefore, user data.

By Sofia Elizabella Wyciślik-Wilson -
Developer

Low code platforms lead to a rise in 'citizen developers'

The introduction of low code platforms has led to more and more applications being developed outside of the IT department.

A new report from development platform company Kintone reveals that one in five executives say more than 50 percent of their applications were developed outside their IT department.

By Ian Barker -
bitcoin_and_benjamin

Bitcoin goes to $13,000

When predicting the price of Bitcoin you have to keep in mind one thing: you will get it wrong. It's a futile exercise. It is simply impossible to tell where Bitcoin will end up at some point, simply because its evolution is like nothing we have ever seen.

Since the beginning of the year, when it traded for under $1,000, and until today, when it broke $13,000 for the first time, Bitcoin has set record after record, basically making of fool of everyone who said it will tank -- at least so far.

By Mihăiță Bamburic -
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