What seemed to have begun as just another ransomware attack hit the headlines last Friday (May 12th) when it began to attack hospitals and healthcare services in the UK.  It became clear pretty quickly that this was in fact something much bigger however, with problems reported at businesses and government bodies around the world.

Infections by the malware known as WannaCrypt or WannaCry, began in Spain with the Telefonica telecommunications giant one of the first to be hit. It then quickly spread to the United Kingdom, Russia, Japan, Taiwan, the United States, and many others. In total, over 150 countries have been affected by the ransomware since Friday, according to Europol.

Continue reading →

Events happen so quickly in the wacky whirlwind world of Donald Trump that it’s hard to react in anything close to real time, but there was an interesting story in the Guardian last weekend that I think deserves some technical context.

The Great British Brexit Robbery: How our Democracy was Hijacked is a breathless but well sourced story about how a U.S. billionaire harnessed Big Data to split up the European Union and steal a U.S. Presidential election. It’s an interesting read, but the point I want to make here is that the tale was entirely predictable and if one side hadn’t done it, the other would have. Next time they’ll all do it.

Continue reading →

I’ve certainly been highly critical of Microsoft in the past, particularly last year when the company began forcing Windows 10 on to users.

But in the past couple of days I have to admit that I’ve been impressed by the software giant’s response to the global WannaCrypt/WannaCry crisis, and not just in patching Windows XP.

Continue reading →

LanguageTool is an open-source spelling and grammar checker for Chrome, Firefox, the desktop (via Java) and more.

The browser extensions enable checking the text you’re entering a web text box, or any other selectable text on a web page. The system works much like other spell checks. Enter text, click the LanguageTool icon and it instantly displays a report listing any issues. Browse the list, click any corrections you’d like to accept and it’s updated in the source text.

Continue reading →

We don't have to wait any longer to see the effects of Brexit on the tech job market in the country -- Hired.co.uk already has some data for us. And it's exactly as you might have imagined it.

According to the hiring site's report, the number of foreign tech workers in the UK is now down 50 percent. The rate at which foreign workers are now accepting UK-based roles has also dropped by a fifth (20 percent). But it’s not just the employees that are declining offers, businesses are also sending out less.

Continue reading →

ASCII art is one of the oldest computer graphics techniques, and can create surprisingly realistic pictures from the 95 printable ASCII characters (letters, numbers and symbols).

The idea was originally used in the 1960s to produce images on the line printers of the day, but the stark and high-contrast results can still deliver interesting designs today.

Continue reading →

The "WannaCrypt" ransomware has proven to be a disaster globally. This malware will encrypt a user's files and then demand some Bitcoin ransom to decrypt them. While the amount being demanded is relatively low at $300 or $600, the scam can be modified for even larger amounts. Heck, even after the ransom is paid, there is no guarantee that the bad guys will follow through with the decryption, making it quite the gamble. As the ransomware has disrupted government agencies, medical services, and other critical computers, the ransom is being paid by some, as it can literally be the the difference between life and death -- surgeries and other procedures have been delayed.

While there are many directions in which you can point the finger of blame, Microsoft should absolutely not shoulder any of the responsibility. After all, the vulnerability that led to the disaster was patched back in March. It never even affected the most recent version of the operating system, Windows 10. The company has even since patched the archaic Windows XP! So who is to blame? Users and administrators that failed to keep their systems up to date are partially at fault. The biggest blame belongs to an unlikely party -- the US Government! You see, an agency of our own government -- the NSA -- knew about the exploit, and rather than alert Microsoft, it chose to stockpile it for intelligence purposes. Sadly, the exploit itself got leaked, and as a result, it landed into the hands of evildoers.

Continue reading →

During the camera film era, Fujifilm battled kingpin Kodak with brighter, more vibrant colors that either photographers loved or hated—perhaps both. That was last century. In the 21st, Kodak is a shadow cast against aged Kodachrome, while its rival has successfully transitioned from print to digital—and with amazing bravado. Fuji's transformation started six years ago with the cleverly-engineered, retro-designed X100, which I reviewed in May 2011.

The compact digital camera's success led Fuji to develop a series of additional bodies and lenses; all are designed with professional shooters in mind. The X series family features compact, mirrorless designs that incorporate digital SLR-size sensors and manual controls—meaning dials and buttons to directly manipulate settings rather than rely on software menus. The X100 line—from the original to the S, T, and now F—remains the most distinctive for how well features and benefits balance set against truly innovative design concepts.

Continue reading →

OnePlus has enjoyed great success with the OnePlus 3 and 3T -- the flagship killers that pack a real punch for a bargain price -- and this looks set to continue with the follow-up. We already know that the OnePlus 5 is due for release soon (yep, there's no OnePlus 4), and this week more leaks have told us just about everything we could want to know about the specs and price.

Continuing the theme we have become used to with the company, the leaks show that OnePlus is planning to deliver a powerful handset at a knock-down price. An image posted to Slashleaks is very much in line with the specs listed by Geekbuying, where the price is listed as a very tempting $449.99.

Continue reading →

GNOME is not just a desktop environment, but a collection of apps too. Some are useful, while others... not so much. Case in point, GNOME has a new program called "Recipes." It is quite literally a searchable database of cooking recipes. While there is nothing really wrong with creating such an app, it sort of duplicates the functionality of a search engine, like Google or Bing. If resources were unlimited, I'd say more power to the developers. The open source project largely relies on donations, however, and it could be argued that Recipes is a bit unnecessary.

There is one particularly interesting aspect of Recipes -- it is available for macOS. You see, the developers have successfully ported the app to Apple's desktop operating system. While I'm dubious that Mac users will actually want the app, it is still rather cool.

Continue reading →

One of the problems with buying an Android smartphone is that there is usually no way to tell just how long it will be supported and how long you'll get Android updates. Unless you have a Google-branded device, it's hit-and-miss when, or indeed if, you'll receive an upgrade to the latest and greatest version of the mobile OS.

With the impending release of Android O, however, Google is trying out a solution to the problem which has led to endless fragmentation of the Android market. Going by the name of Project Treble, the solution sees Google introducing a modular base to Android. It's described as "the biggest change to the low-level system architecture of Android to date" and it should make it quicker, easier and cheaper for device-makers to roll out updates to handsets in future.

Continue reading →

Microsoft stopped supporting Windows XP back in 2014, but today it releases one more security update for the ancient OS.

The software giant is taking this "highly unusual" step to fight back against the WannaCrypt ransomware cyber attacks that have so far hit nearly 100 countries around the world. And XP is not the only unsupported system receiving this patch.

Continue reading →

While 2016 certainly seemed to be one bad news item after the other, the year might not have been as dire as everyone thought. On the good news front, researchers made huge strides in precision treatments for cancer and prevention methods for Alzheimer’s, the Cubbies finally won the World Series, LeBron brought a championship to Cleveland, and Leonardo DiCaprio got his Oscar.

You know who else had a great year? The people behind DDoS attacks. They really rocked it in 2016 -- but of course that’s terrible news for everyone else.

Continue reading →

Do you think automation will change your job in the next five years? Accountants seem to think so.

Pretty much every accountant believes their work will be either partly or completely automated by 2022. A new report by FreeAgent says 96 percent of accountants agree with this claim, and just three percent say they don’t think automation will change their work.

Continue reading →

Soon every smartphone will be VR-enabled. This will open up the virtual floodgates, making video-based VR experiences more affordable and accessible. Immersive VR will go mainstream not on laptops, smart TVs or games consoles but on mobiles.

Affordable headsets such as Samsung Gear VR and Google Daydream View are already gaining traction with early adopters for VR gaming and content streaming via apps such as Netflix VR and HBO Now VR. But this is just the tip of the iceberg. As well as media and entertainment, there is a huge market opportunity for organizations in other sectors to boost engagement with video-based, mobile VR content: fly-on-the-wall corporate training and company events, real estate sales, retail, and virtual classrooms.

Continue reading →