Latest Technology News

If you do not fancy the Apple iPhone 7 Plus or the new Samsung Galaxy S8+, Google still has a very attractive option for fans of bigger smartphones -- the Pixel XL. It has a premium build, fast internals, an amazing camera, and software support straight from the search giant itself.

Making the Pixel XL an even more interesting option is the fact that Google is now offering a free case with the purchase of its larger Android 7.1-powered smartphone. Here's what you need to know.

It’s that time once again when Google takes to the stage to reveal its future plans.

The annual Google I/O developer conference kicks off today, with a keynote taking place at the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, California. Among other things, the search giant will be revealing more about Android O, the next version of its Android operating system. That’s not all though.

Android tablets aren't very exciting anymore, as manufacturers have seemingly lost focus on them. There have been a few solid offerings here and there, but it is a very sad state of affairs. With that said, Amazon's Fire tablets -- which run a version of Android called "Fire OS" -- still provide rewarding experiences as consumption devices. This is especially true if you are a Prime member. These tablets are definitely a bright spot in the market.

Amazon's tablets have needed a refresh for a while now, and today it happens. The company announces two newly updated models -- the Fire 7 and the Fire HD 8. They both feature Alexa support, of course, and are designed for a quality experience with all types of media, such as movies, music, and books. The 7-inch has a 1024 x 600 resolution, while the 8-inch variant has 1280 x 800. Best of all, they are extremely affordable.

A majority of cyber security professionals don’t trust the data that they get from their tools according to a new report from risk analysis company Bay Dynamics.

The survey, carried out by research firm Enterprise Management Associates, of more than 400 security professionals in organizations with more than 5,000 employees reveals that 52 percent of threat alerts are improperly prioritized by systems and must be manually re-prioritized.

The Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ are off to a fantastic start. Samsung's latest Android flagships have posted the "best ever" performance in terms of pre-orders, with Samsung touting a 30 percent improvement over the Galaxy S7 series. That should not come as a surprise considering just how well received the two smartphones have been.

But, question is, how does that translate into actual sales? An estimate that we've seen last month indicates that annual sales will exceed the 50 million units mark, and, so far, it looks like Samsung is on the right track judging by the first official sales announcement.

Windows utilities specialist Ashampoo GmbH has released Ashampoo WinOptimizer 15.0, a major new update of its Windows maintenance and optimization tool.

Version 15 has been rebuilt around making the program easier to use via a new usability concept and more intuitive user interface. It’s also fine-tuned many of its system maintenance tools for significant performance improvements.

Python is an open source, versatile, and powerful programming language. Learning Python, from Packt Publishing, will teach you how to master it, and code like a professional. It’s well written, easy to follow, and lays a good foundation for those who are interested in digging deeper.

Starting with the fundamentals of programming and Python, it ends by exploring very different topics, like GUIs, web apps and data science. The book takes you all the way to creating a fully-fledged application.

News over the past week has been dominated by the fallout from the WannaCry ransomware. Now the hacking group that released the NSA's hacking tool kit into the wild has announced plans to start an exploit subscription service in June.

ShadowBrokers used a blog post to announce that next month will see the launch of "TheShadowBrokers Data Dump of the Month" service. Described as "being like wine of month club," such a subscription service would attract a great deal of interest from intelligence agencies and would-be hackers alike, particularly if -- as the group suggests -- it includes access to Windows 10 exploits.

Webcamoid is a surprisingly versatile open-source webcam suite for Windows, Linux and Mac. Launch the program and it looks very simple. The image from the default webcam is displayed, there’s a small transparent toolbar at the bottom of the screen, and nothing else at all.

The toolbar seems basic, at least initially. There’s a Camera icon, clicking it takes a snapshot of the current screen and offers to save it as a PNG. Useful, but nothing special.

In the US, May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and Facebook is using this to raise awareness of the tools it offers for those in need of help. The social network says that it wants to help people connect with the help they need to promote good mental health and well-being.

The company is also expanding its suicide prevention tools -- something it has offered for a decade now -- by working with new partners. The latest addition to the fold is The Trevor Project to help offer support to LGBTQ youth, and Facebook also says that its overall arsenal of tools has been improved by advancements in technology.

Facebook is set for a potentially explosive legal case after the company was accused of stealing proprietary technology.

In a California district court, a judge has laid out a detailed timeline regarding the upcoming legal battle between Facebook and UK data center company BladeRoom over allegations that the social network stole the latter's server and rack technology for use in its own Open Compute Project.

The UK government has defended the NHS's cyber-security procedures, days after a number of trusts were taken offline by the WannaCry ransomware.

Security minister Ben Wallace said that the NHS had followed "pretty good procedures" in dealing with the attack.

The WannaCry/WannaCrypt ransomware attack has hit businesses and individuals hard. It has now infected and locked over 300,000 computers across more than 150 countries.

It’s the most successful -- and damaging -- cyber attack in years, despite being rather poorly executed. If you’ve wondered how much money such an attack generates we have the answer -- and it’s not as much as you might think, given the scale.

There are countless gaming accessories nowadays, such as mice, keyboards, and headsets to name a few. Believe it or not, some companies even design gaming furniture. Yes, chairs designed for playing video games are a real thing. Not only are there seats for living rooms and bedrooms, but for computer desks too. Are gaming chairs gimmicky? A bit, but they are very fun too!

Today, CORSAIR releases the T1 RACE Gaming Chair. While the design is inspired by racing games, it can be sat in while playing any genre. In fact, it can serve as a normal office chair too, so you can look cool while editing spreadsheets in Excel. It is even rated for an impressive 265 pounds.

While smart televisions are very common nowadays, not all are created equally. Some of them can have laggy performance and poor user interfaces. Amazon aimed to change that with its "Fire TV Edition," which integrates its quality video experience into the television itself -- no need to add a dongle or box. This is clearly designed to compete with Roku's similar integrated platform.

Today, Element Electronics announces the first ever models of televisions with the aforementioned Amazon Fire TV Edition experience. What makes these sets particularly special, however, is that they also offer 4K UHD resolution. You can even access the Alexa assistant using the included voice remote.