Latest Technology News

If you are a fan of Linux-based desktop operating systems, you probably have done this before -- buy a Windows PC and replace the pre-installed OS with your favorite distro. While this can be a fine practice, there are some problems with it. Of course, you may experience issues with drivers -- especially Wi-Fi cards. Even worse, if you ever need support, the manufacturer might turn you away when it finds out you loaded Ubuntu, Fedora, or something else.

A smart alternative is to buy a computer from a company that cares about Linux, such as System76. That company sells beautiful laptops and desktops running Ubuntu. But what if you prefer Linux Mint? The Mint team has previously partnered with manufacturers to produce desktops running its distro. Today, the all-new Mintbox Mini Pro goes on sale.

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Israeli security firm Cellebrite -- the company said to have helped the FBI access the San Bernadino iPhone -- says that it has the power to break into, and extract data from, just about any phone out there. Speaking with the BBC, the company demonstrated how it can crack the password on a smartphone to access its data.

It said that it was able to extract data from the very latest handsets including Android 7 devices and the iPhone 7. Cellebrite says it works with law enforcement agencies around the world too, and stopped short of saying it refused to work with oppressive regimes. The interview raises some interesting questions.

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LogMeIn the company behind the LastPass password manager has released the results of a survey looking at consumer psychology, behavior and attitudes when it comes to managing personal passwords.

Among the findings are that 61 percent of respondents use the same or similar passwords across accounts, and 55 percent of them do it even though they understand the risk. Also more than a third (39 percent) create more secure passwords for their personal accounts than their work accounts.

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BlackBerry used to be an incredibly successful smartphone maker, but the iPhone and Android changed that. Now, the company formerly known as RIM cannot even manage to sell a measly one million units in a quarter, let alone compete against players like Apple and Samsung.

So, with a market share hovering around the 0.1 percent mark, BlackBerry has decided to take a big step back, announcing that it will stop developing its own smartphones. Instead, BlackBerry will focus on a more lucrative market -- enterprise software services.

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Three out of five board members believe that they need to have cyber security experts on their boards, yet only one in six claim to have substantial expertise in understanding the implications of cyber security.

These are among the findings of a report from risk analytics specialist Bay Dynamics which looks at why boards of directors are making cyber security a top priority and the challenges they face in reducing risk.

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There are a lot of media streaming products to choose from, but my personal favorite is Amazon’s Fire TV Stick. It’s compact, powerful and gives you access to Amazon’s full range of on-demand video content, as well as apps and games.

Today, the retail giant announces a new version of Fire TV Stick that’s faster and adds Alexa voice control to the remote. No more browsing long lists of TV shows and movies, now you can simply ask Alexa to play anything you're interested in, launch apps, and more.

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Once you’re used to the power of grep, regular Windows text-searching tools can seem a little, well, basic.

Fortunately there some quality alternatives around, and ripgrep is an excellent open-source project with builds available for Windows, Linux and OS X.

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Many companies rely on legacy applications, but while they're keen to get maximum return on their investment and avoid the costs of moving to a new system, they may be opening themselves to security threats.

Information risk management consultancy AsTech Consulting is launching its Legacy Application Security Evaluation and Remediation (LASER) guided security improvement program to help companies uncover hidden security issues.

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Looking to paint a more accurate picture of what mobile coverage is like across the country, UK communications regulator Ofcom has released an app that can pull in data from millions of Android users.

The app, called Ofcom Mobile Research, is only available for Android and has been designed to measure not only mobile broadband performance, but also voice call quality. While building up a mass of data from participating Android users, iPhone owners are locked out of contributing because of the way iOS works.

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If your business gets hacked, expect to lose a significant portion of your customers -- for good. This is according to a new report released by Alertsec, the cloud-based encryption company. Its Brand Perception Study, based on a poll of 1,200 Americans, says 17 percent of women and 11 percent of men would permanently lose trust in a hacked company.

Almost a third (29 percent) would need months to return while a further 22 percent would need only one. Men are also more likely (16 percent) to switch brands after a hack than women (6 percent). For more than a third (35 percent), a hack means the company was sloppy. Another third (32 percent) says it is the result of a lack of professionalism, while 26 percent say the company would become a great target for lawsuits.

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A few days ago, HP upset printer owners by issuing a software update to block the use of third-party cartridges. The beauty of third-party ink cartridges is, of course, that they cost a fraction of official ones, but HP didn’t like the idea of missing out on income and decided to implement DRM to block them.

The company has described the move as a way "to protect HP's innovations and intellectual property" but printer owners see it as little more than a money grab. Digital rights group EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation) is similarly irked and has written to HP president and CEO Dion Weisler to express its alarm. There is particular concern that "HP abused its security update mechanism to trick its customers".

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When you put together all of the shows one person watches, the list can cover a staggering amount of channels. It seems like we're always flipping from one to another when we have nothing particular on. That gave rise to today's channel packages, which can provide hundreds of networks to choose from.

One channel that does provide content viewed by a wide range of people is CW, and now it's coming to Roku. The tiny set-top box maker announces the network is available beginning right now and it's free -- no login or subscription needed.

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When people think of online malware, they sometimes think infections only come from 'bad' websites, such as pornography and warez. Yeah, those types of sites can definitely house malware, but so can any site. In fact, bad guys will often target users through seemingly wholesome places, where a person may let their guard down.

Today, McAfee announces its annual 'Most Dangerous Celebrities' list. No, the celebrities themselves are not a danger to the public -- as far as I know, at least. Actually, these are people that, when their names are entered as search terms, can cause an increased chance of leading to malware. For 2016, McAfee lists Amy Schumer as the most dangerous in this regard.

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Another day, another SATA SSD. Yeah, these SATA solid state drives are no longer exciting, since for the most part, they all have similar performance. As PC enthusiasts and gamers look to faster PCI-e NVMe SSDs, there is still a market for SATA drives.

Today, Toshiba announces the OCZ TL100 SATA SSD series, and it is rather lackluster. The drive features TLC NAND and relatively low capacities of 120GB and 240GB. This is not designed for performance, nor is it ideal for those looking to store a lot of files. Who is it for? Consumers that are still using mechanical hard drives and want a performance boost without breaking the bank.

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Salesforce is reportedly considering purchasing Twitter in a move that would give the software company access to the huge amount of data generated by the social network and could help fuel its push to develop artificial intelligence.

Marc Benioff, the CEO of Salesforce.com, has grown his 17-year-old company to compete against Microsoft, Oracle and other big players in the field. Lately, the company has acquired a number of startups working in e-commerce and artificial intelligence. Talks between Twitter and Salesforce are said to be at an early stage but an acquisition could end up helping both companies.

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