Connected cameras, vending machines or light bulbs were the vectors of the latest cyber-attacks. It is just the beginning of a long list of Internet of Things that will be used by hackers to take down businesses or steal data. But who should be blamed for this new situation?

We heard about the promise of a better life when everything will be connected to it. We trusted it because we loved the idea of having an easier life and access to more services at the same time. Manufacturers also saw a huge opportunity in that trend for new business, so everybody was happy.

Continue reading →

CPUMon is a simple desktop gadget which can plot CPU usage and display free and used RAM in real time.

You can do this already -- and a lot more -- in the Windows 10 Task Manager, of course (check the Performance tab), but that’s a bulky dialog which grabs more screen real estate than you might want to spare.

Continue reading →

Social media can be a fabulous tool to help businesses engage their customers. Nowadays it isn't enough to simply offer a quality product or service -- it is about creating memorable experiences. By offering outreach from services like Facebook and Twitter, a business can seem more friendly -- something that may have a positive impact on sales or brand opinion. Not to mention, young adults that grew up with text messaging may be turned off to making voice calls, making social media indispensable for millennials.

Today, Twitter is improving the customer interaction experience for businesses with a really cool new feature -- location sharing through direct messaging. A business can now more easily share its location with a customer, or request a location from them, using the direct message functionality.

Continue reading →

When you’re online you might occasionally want to know your external IP address, perhaps to confirm the internet connection you’re using or find out whether a VPN is working.

The easiest way to do this is via a browser window. A site like WhatIsMyIP.com will display your address immediately, or you could simply enter IP at Google, and your address will be top of the search results.

Continue reading →

Citrix wants a part of that tasty Samsung Galaxy S8 DeX cake, and it just announced a new software client to make sure it gets it.

The newly announced Citrix Receiver is a free to download client which allows users fast access to XenDesktop and XenApp installations. The client allows users to access applications, desktops and data easily and securely, the company says.

Continue reading →

In 2017, it is definitely time to jump into the 4K waters. There is plenty of UHD content nowadays, and pricing for these displays are finally reasonable.

AOC is known for producing quality monitors at affordable prices, and the company has a new offering that reaffirms that. The all-new premium 32-inch (technically 31.5-inch) 4K UHD Display (U3277PWQU) is chock full of great features, such as an integrated USB hub, and it is available immediately.

Continue reading →

Parenting can be hard -- I get it. It can be a real hassle to monitor what a child is doing 24 hours per day. Nowadays, with the internet and many connected devices, your child could be online when you aren't aware. Luckily, there are tools to help you track their activity -- up all night surfing the web? Busted!

Today, the Google Wifi router gets a new tool to help owners better manage internet access. Called "Scheduled Pause," it literally lets you pause the internet for selected devices. In other words, it could make a tablet or other device inoperable during a certain time frame -- like a bedtime. Here's the problem. What if there is an emergency, like say, a home invasion, and the child wants to use the tablet to get help? If the tragedy occurs while the internet is paused, it could be catastrophic.

Continue reading →

If you are keeping track of Windows 10's adoption, you probably know that the operating system has hit a plateau. According to NetMarketShare, it has been hovering around the 25 percent usage share mark for a few months now. That said, it still remains the second most-popular version of Windows (and OS), coming after Windows 7.

However, if we look at the business space in particular, Windows 10 is actually nowhere near as popular with PC users. Microsoft's latest operating system lags far behind Windows 7 and Windows XP too. One might expect Windows 7 to come out ahead, the fact that Windows XP ranks higher may come as a surprise.

Continue reading →

FileFriend is a tiny portable toolkit which can split, join, encrypt or hide your target files in a JPG.

The program organizes its simple interface into four tabs: Split, Join, Encrypt and "JPK" (pack a file or folder inside a JPEG).

Continue reading →

Organizations are increasingly faced with the need to support a more distributed environment, with employees accessing data on mobile devices and information stored both in-house and in the cloud.

Keeping these systems secure places a strain on traditional gateway security models, but cyber security company iboss is launching a new Distributed Gateway Platform is purposefully designed and packaged to offer today’s distributed organizations advanced gateway security capabilities.

Continue reading →

Amazon today announced details of Amazon Cash, a new way to shop online that does not require shoppers to have a bank card. The system allows shoppers to print out a barcode -- or display it on the screen of their iOS or Android phone -- and make a payment in brick-and-mortar stores.

Launching in the US, Amazon Cash can be used to add money to a customer's Amazon Balance, and a number of big names including CVS Pharmacy, Speedway and Sheetz are among the stores participating in the scheme.

Continue reading →

Whilst cloud and hybrid models offer undoubted flexibility, they can lead to problems when it comes to keeping track of software licenses.

Analytics solutions company Teradata is looking to cut through the confusion with the launch of a new simplified licensing model. This aims to deliver portability for deployment flexibility, subscription-based licenses and simplified tiers with bundled features.

Continue reading →

I remember the time I accidentally stumbled upon a porn shoot in the San Fernando Valley, CA. The headliners were infamous wife-beater (and sliced manhood holder) John Wayne Bobbitt and some chick named Belladonna (Stevie Nicks dies a little inside every time I say that name).

As I recall, the title card on the set said something about "bigger, longer, uncut!" And that’s what I thought of when I first laid eyes on the Samsung Galaxy S8: "Damn, is that thing LONG!" And I don’t mean that in a positive, "you should be in porn, fella!" kind of way. I mean it as criticism -- as in, "it’s so long you’ll look stupid holding it up to your face!"

Continue reading →

While virtual reality has long been expensive, it has become more achievable in recent years. A VR-ready PC is much more affordable, as are the VR accessories. It still isn't a simple affair, however, as there are competing platforms, such as Oculus and Vive. It can be confusing for consumers to know which to choose.

Today, Vive-maker HTC announces that it is celebrating the one-year anniversary of the commercial launch of the virtual reality platform and hardware. To mark the occasion, existing users will get a free game, while new buyers of the hardware will save $100. More exciting, however, the company is launching Viveport Subscription on April 5. For a paltry monthly fee, users get access to a big library of VR apps and games.

Continue reading →

Many enterprises still rely on mainframes, while these are inherently secure, audits of user activities have historically been limited to scans of disparate logs and SMF data that don’t specifically capture start-to-finish user session activity.

Mainframe software specialist Compuware is launching a new cybersecurity and compliance solution that enhances the ability of enterprises to stop insider threats by fully capturing and analyzing start-to-finish mainframe application user behavior.

Continue reading →