Latest Technology News

It seems that serious data breaches are all but an everyday occurrence at the moment. At the same time, there have also been instances of historical hacks suddenly coming to light such as the 2012 breach of Dropbox.

But Dropbox was not the only company to suffer an attack in 2012 -- so did music site Last.fm. Now, four years after the hack, details of 43 million accounts have been leaked.

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OurMine is a hacking collective that gets its jollies by causing havoc in the name of security. For instance, the group often takes over Twitter accounts, causing distress to the handle owner. Heck, just last month it hacked TechCrunch. Ultimately, OurMine never seems to cause real damage -- its antics are an inconvenience more than anything.

Today, OurMine hacks Variety.com and takes its mischief to a new level. You see, the hackers not only infiltrated the company's newsletter database, but OurMine sent spam to the contained subscriber email addresses too. Apparently it was not just one spam email, but many.

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PC gamers have two routes to take nowadays when wanting a new gaming rig. They can build a PC or buy one. While building a machine definitely is deserving of geek credibility, not everyone has the time or know-how to do it. Quite frankly, buying a pre-built system can often provide a more convenient warranty -- giving the consumer a central point of contact if something goes wrong.

One of the lesser-known system building companies, at least from a household-name perspective, is MAINGEAR. With that said, in-the-know gamers will recognize -- and respect -- the brand. Today, it announces a collaboration with accessory-maker RAZER. The fruit of the partnership is a gaming PC called MAINGEAR R1 RAZER Edition.

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There has been much wailing and gnashing of teeth from YouTubers in recent days as rumors started to circulate that YouTube was demonetizing videos deemed not "advertiser friendly". Seasoned 'Tuber Philip DeFranco was one of the more high-profile to speak out, likening YouTube's actions to "censoring" people by hitting them in the wallet.

But YouTube has responded to these claims by saying that its policy on video monetization has not changed at all. While YouTubers have just started to complain that video about depression, videos with swearing, videos with controversial subject matter, and so on are being denied the opportunity to make money from ads, YouTube says the only thing that has changed is the way users are notified. DeFranco says this is "very concerning" and reveals that YouTube has clearly been secretly demonetizing videos for a while.

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Starting next week -- September 7 specifically -- Apple is starting to clear the crap out of the App Store. What does this mean? It means removing what Apple describes as "problematic and abandoned apps", as well as changing the way apps can be named to prevent developers using SEO'd titles for their creations.

Moving forward, app titles will be limited to just 50 characters, reducing the chance of naming them in a deceptive way. Apple appears to have quite a task ahead of it as it plans to review every app currently featured in the App Store, before contacting developers about those with problems.

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Google's Project Ara -- a modular smartphone that let users customize their handsets with a range of plugin modules -- has been killed before it even got off the ground. Having started life as a Motorola venture, the first Project Ara smartphone was expected to launch later this year.

As recently as May, Google was talking about shipping a developer version of the phone this autumn, but now it seems that this is not going to happen.

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The mobile technology market was rocked by the news of Samsung's recall of the explosion-prone Note7. While some people applauded the company for its focus on consumer safety, more cynical people viewed it as nothing more than a way to avoid lawsuits. Quite frankly, the company was likely motivated by both. Regardless of motivation, the recall was the right move.

Consumer Reports, however, is not satisfied with Samsung's recall efforts. The respected consumer-focused publication is calling it deficient, criticizing the failure to make it an "official" recall. In other words, Samsung should have worked with the Consumer Product Safety Commission. This is important, apparently, as it would block the Note 7 from being sold entirely. Shockingly, as of today, the dangerous Note7 can still be sold legally in the USA. This is not theoretical -- Consumer Reports found retailers still selling it yesterday!

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Mobile operator Three had hoped to roll out a network-wide ad blocking system that would prevent the appearance of up to 95 percent of adverts has been shot down by a European regulator.

Citing net neutrality, the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (Berec) says that Three's plans were incompatible with providing an internet access service. The decision comes despite the fact that Three's ad blocker would have been optional for customers.

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Microsoft is fighting the US Justice Department in an attempt to quash a law that prevents companies informing customers that the government is requesting their data. The technology giant has the backing of other tech companies as well as media outlets.

Amazon, Apple, Google, Fox News, Electronic Frontier Foundation and Mozilla are among those offering their support to Microsoft. The lawsuit says that blocking companies from keeping their customers informed is unconstitutional, and it comes at a time when tech companies in particular are keen to be as open and transparent as possible about government requests for data.

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Paragon Backup and Recovery 16 is a reliable PC backup tool which comes packed with enterprise-level features and functionality, so it’s a little surprising to find Paragon Software are giving it away for free until November 1st.

It’s true, though. Download, install, create a free MyParagon account (which means giving your email address, no phone number or physical address beyond a country) and you’ll be emailed a free license within seconds.

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Next week is Apple's big product event, where many expect the iPhone 7 to make its debut. The most controversial aspect of that new smartphone is the rumored removal of the 3.5mm audio jack. In other words, if the rumors are true, traditional wired earbuds will no longer work without a dongle. Bluetooth headphones will still work, of course.

In anticipation of the 3.5mm port removal, Apple's Lightning connector is being viewed as the new default way to connect wired headphones/earbuds. With that said, we will likely see an influx of Lightning connector headphones this holiday season. Libratone is getting the jump on this, however, with its newly announced Q Adapt In-Ear Lightning earbuds. The product doesn't just utilize the Lightning connector for audio, but to power the noise-canceling technology too. Of course, the earbuds should work with any iPhone with a Lightning connector -- not just the upcoming model.

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Apparently, 1.8 million of UK’s businesses have been victims of a cyber-attack, and that costs the country’s economy more than £147 billion, in the last year alone. This is according to a new report by Gareth Bacon, GLA Conservative London Assembly, entitled Safe & Secure: Protecting London’s data.

Pretty much all businesses affected by these security breaches -- 99 percent of them -- are small businesses, counting 249 employees, or less. With that in mind, the report proposes a Mayoral Standard for data security, helping London consumers and businesses protect themselves from cyber-attacks.

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Dell and EMC will finalize their merge on September 7, following China's regulatory approval, the two companies announced earlier this week. The new company, named Dell Technologies, will start working as soon as the merge is complete. China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) approved the merger, after EMC shareholders did the same on July 19.

"This is an historic moment for both Dell and EMC. Combined, we will be exceptionally well-positioned for growth in the most strategic areas of next generation IT including digital transformation, software-defined data centre, converged infrastructure, hybrid cloud, mobile and security", says Michael Dell, chairman and CEO of Dell Technologies.

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It's not that there are less data breaches lately -- it's that they're not being disclosed. That's basically what Huntsman Security is saying, after it requested data about error and breaches in security through the Freedom of Information Act. Between April 2015, and March 2016, a total of 2,048 incidents were reported to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

This represents a jump of 88 percent, as the year before, there were a total of 1,089 reported incidents.

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The Windows Store can sometimes be a satisfying place to download and manage video games, apps, movies, and music. Regarding apps and games, however, the store is littered with a lot of low-quality items. In other words, Microsoft still has a lot of work to do, but it is slowly getting there.

Today, the Windows-maker announces that Windows 10 users can now pre-order video games through the Windows Store. It is one of those things that probably should have been possible from the start, but better late than never, right? The real question is, should Valve, owner of Steam, be worried?

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