Latest Technology News

Users are generally unaware of the dangers of ransomware attacks, and that makes them mostly clueless about how to prepare for one. This is according to a new report by Acronis.

The report is based on a survey conducted in the US, UK, Australia, Germany, France and Japan. With users being as they are, ransomware was quick to become one of the most serious malware threats out there. It is expected that $5 billion will be extorted this year, alone.

IT modernization is essential to addressing the needs of modern digital businesses, according to a new report by Avanade. The report is based on a poll of 800 IT decision makers in organizations scattered all over the world.

On average, IT decision makers believe that by modernizing IT, they could boost their company’s revenue by as much as 14 percent. That’s almost $1 billion a year, Avanade says.

Fedora is my absolute favorite Linux distribution. While it may not be the most popular such operating system, many in-the-know users ultimately choose it. Heck, Linus Torvalds, the father of Linux, famously uses the distro. It's not hard to see why many advanced users select it -- it is rock solid while being fairly bleeding edge. Also, for those that are fans of open source and FOSS, there are no proprietary packages, codecs, or fonts included "out of the box." It is just a refreshingly smooth and straightforward experience.

Today, Fedora 26 gets an Alpha release. While you might expect a pre-Beta release to be full of bugs and issues, that is absolutely not the case. I have been using the operating system all day today, and despite the "Alpha" tag, it is totally rock solid. I have yet to encounter a bug or issue. Of course, my experience won't necessarily be the same as yours. In other words, tread cautiously, and avoid installing this on a production machine.

If you are looking for the perfect weather app, let me save you the trouble of reading all those roundups out there: there isn't one. They are all flawed. And it's not necessarily because of their design, functionality or support, but rather what they can -- and do -- often get wrong: the forecast.

The forecast is based on information from a weather station that is usually miles and miles away. And while I have no doubt that you can get accurate predictions for that respective area, it's been my experience that things can be totally different in your area. So, how do you fix that? Enter the personal weather station.

Pablo Software Solutions has released WYSIWYG Web Builder 12, a major new version of its DTP-style web building tool for Windows users.

Version 12 introduces over 125 new and improved features, with one brand new addition in the form of Blocks, a new option for quickly adding predefined blocks of objects to the workspace. Other highlights include a photo collage tool, CSS flexbox support and new Easy Mode feature.

As an observer of the Bitcoin market as long as this original cryptocurrency has existed, it never made much sense to me from an investment perspective. Bitcoin prices were too volatile and the volatility seemed too random. Volatility can be a good thing for traders, mind you, but only if you think you have an idea why the price goes up and down the way it does. Otherwise it is just a good way to lose all your money. But a couple of recent events have changed my view of Bitcoin. I now think I can explain its volatility and predict it well enough for profitable trading. And the best part is that it takes no rocket science at all. Your mother (and mine) can make a living trading Bitcoins.

For those who don’t know, Bitcoin is a stateless currency based on blockchain calculations. There will only ever be 21 million Bitcoins and only 16-odd million of those have so far been "mined." The present value of all mined Bitcoins is around $18 billion, which is amazing if you realize they came from nowhere and have no intrinsic value.

Data science company Protagonist (previously called Monitor 360) is launching a new platform that is designed to analyze complex, cross-platform data sets in order to reveal the underlying beliefs and motivations of consumers.

Using advanced natural language processing and machine learning it can uncover and measure the narratives that impact a given market, while the company's team of narrative experts apply high-level evaluation to give actionable meaning to the findings.

Back in 2013, Apple released a seemingly revolutionary desktop computer -- the cylindrical Mac Pro. It was beautiful and powerful, although it did resemble a garbage can. The problem? Apple neglected the computer, letting it stagnate. Then, in 2016, it released new MacBook Pro laptops, but many professionals panned the device for being under-powered. Ultimately, it seemed like Apple didn't care about professionals.

Not so fast. Apple not caring about professionals? Blasphemy. True, the company's profits largely don't come from "Pro" machines nowadays, but it historically has catered to creative professionals, such as hardcore photographers, videographers, and designers. Today, John Gruber of Daring Fireball shares an interesting interview with Phil Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing, who drops a bombshell -- the Mac Pro is getting a redesign! The company is even looking to release a new dedicated display -- a good idea after the LG monitor fiasco.

Keeping track of software licenses and ensuring that products are kept up to date with the latest patches can prove a chore for businesses.

Software management specialist Flexera Software is launching a new product that integrates asset and security management for better vendor, financial and risk management, as well as operational efficiency and optimization.

The cost of downtime due to lack of access to systems for customers and employees was the biggest business impact of a ransomware attack according to 59 percent of respondents to a new survey.

The study from cyber security company Imperva also shows that 32 percent of respondents say their company has been infected with ransomware with 11 percent taking longer than a week to regain access to their systems after an attack.

Consumer group Which? has performed tests on laptops that show manufacturers are overstating the battery life consumers can expect from their devices. In some cases, real-world battery life is just half of what manufacturers claim.

Only Apple's MacBook Pro met -- and even exceeded -- battery life claims when put through tests that simulated scenarios users would put laptops through. In all, 67 laptops -- from big names including Acer, Dell and Lenovo -- were put through their paces, and all of the non-Apple devices were found to fall hours short of manufacturers' claims.

AT&T has been chosen for a very lucrative contract, to build and manage a nationwide public safety network for first responders in the US.

Ingo Flomer, Public Safety product manager at Cobham Wireless, says the network itself won't be operational this year but rather in 2018. "Although there will not be an operational LTE public safety network in place this year, it is likely that the standards and regulations will be implemented in advance of a possible 2018 deployment."

The new Hollywood sci-fi blockbuster Ghost in the Shell imagines 2029, a world where cyber terrorists hack into people’s digitally enhanced minds and where cyborgs have crises of identity. So, how much has it got right? Is this the future?

Should we be concerned that our cybernetic development, already constantly on-boarding new connected technology, will reach a point where our brains become both infected and controlled by rabid self-willed robots? Well, probably not just yet. But the question is there -- should we countenance such a dystopian scenario? Of course we should.

Donald Trump has forged ahead and done what privacy advocates hoped would not happen. The US president has signed a resolution rolling back FCC privacy rules, meaning that ISPs are now free to share and sell customers' browsing histories without express permission.

The signing of the bill into law comes after the Senate and then the House voted to allow ISPs to share customer data without consent. The White House has confirmed that Trump has reversed the Obama-era rules, so closely targeted advertising is now not far away.

While large enterprises have the resources to tackle security issues, smaller organizations can struggle. A new survey of more than 150 IT security professionals at small to medium-sized businesses shows a significant drop in respondents' confidence in the security technologies they've deployed.

The study by security as a service specialist EiQ Networks reveals that 86 percent of respondents say their organizations have underfunded IT security initiatives.