Speed up your internet connection with SpeedGuide.net TCP Optimizer... Maybe
Once upon a time, not so long ago, just about every PC optimization suite included a module to "speed up your internet connection".
They’re not so common these days because Windows’ own settings generally give good results, but if you’d like to try one for yourself then there are still some useful programs around. SpeedGuide.net TCP Optimizer has been around for years, and is very convenient to use: there’s no installation required, and it runs on everything from Windows XP up.
Tech companies could disrupt financial industry
People would gladly take banking services from tech companies such as Google, Amazon or Facebook, a new survey has shown.
According to a new Europe-wide study by Fujitsu, the digital transformation keeps disrupting the financial industry, and if traditional service providers fail do adapt on time, tech disruptors will step in.
Vine unveils Windows 10 app
Video sharing social network Vine has released its first app for Windows 10. In a click -- or a tap -- you’re able to explore channels like Music, Sport and Comedy, or follow individual creators, even if you don’t have a Vine account.
Videos play back-to-back by default, as with the mobile apps, but you can loop them with a mouseover or touch.
Microsoft prevents Windows 10 Pro admins from blocking access to the Windows Store
Microsoft has castrated some of the capabilities of Windows 10 Pro admins looking to lock down the computers they manage. The company is removing the ability to block access to the Windows Store using Group Policy Editor.
The option will still be available to those running Education or Enterprise versions of Windows 10. It means that businesses who have come to rely on this option as part of their security regime will have to consider upgrading to a different version of Windows 10.
Now Microsoft is breaking Windows 7 to get users to upgrade to Windows 10
Microsoft has made a change to an update for Windows 7 that can prevent certain systems from booting. While you might expect me to say, "good news, the software giant has fixed the problem", in fact what Microsoft has done is switch the update from "optional", to "recommended". So, on some systems, it will now install, and break Windows 7 automatically.
There is good news though, and that’s you can solve the problem and get your computer working again by (can you guess?) upgrading to Windows 10. Hooray!
Attack researchers are top target of DDoS activity
We all know that the cyber security world is a constant war of attrition, but it seems that DDoS attackers are targeting those firms which represent a direct threat to their business model.
According to a new report from cyber security company Nexusguard, an attack research group, Loryka LLC, was the number one target in the first quarter of this year, with 90 DDoS attacks.
Nearly half of OS X devs want to learn Swift
Almost a quarter (25 percent) of OS X developers don’t use file sharing in the cloud -- at all, according to a new survey.
German-based Fournova surveyed more than 7,000 OS X developers in more than 100 countries to see which tools, services and technologies are the most popular ones.
Opera 37 gets video pop-outs, ad-blocking technology
Opera Software has released Opera 37 FINAL, a major new release of its desktop web browser for Windows, Mac and Linux PCs. The latest release contains two new major features of note: built-in ad-blocking and support for video pop-outs.
The ad-block feature has also been added to the brand new release of Opera Mini for Android 16.0, also out today.
Samsung Family Hub Refrigerator now available with Wi-Fi, touchscreen, and more
Samsung makes amazing products, and I'm not just talking about smartphones and tablets. I have one of its 4K televisions in my house, not to mention a washing machine and clothes dryer. These things work wonderfully, and create memorable experiences -- I recommend them highly.
Today, Samsung announces immediate availability of its smart refrigerator. What has historically been a large box designed to keep food and drinks cold, can be so much more. Its Family Hub fridge has a huge touchscreen, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and can communicate with your smartphone. It even has a built-in web browser!
Hacker leaks millions of Hotmail, Gmail, and Yahoo Mail usernames and passwords
A number of major webmail services have suffered one of the largest security breaches in recent years. The account details of Gmail, Yahoo Mail, Hotmail, and Mail.ru are just four of the services affected.
Security firm Hold Security says that it has been contacted by a hacker in possession of 272 million unique pairs of email addresses and unencrypted passwords. This is far from an insignificant number, and the situation is made all the worse as the data is being freely shared for just about anyone to access.
An open letter to the IoT community: Lessons learned from the Revolv shutdown
Over the last month, Nest has been under a lot of scrutiny over their decision to shut down Revolv, as made famous by a viral Medium post earlier in April. The discussion around this issue raises an important question: what are IoT companies' obligations to their customers?
If you make a hardware product that is connected to the internet and relies on a web service for its operation (i.e. an Internet of Things product), you’ll likely see that reliance as an asset. "We have an ongoing relationship with our customers", you might say. "We can improve the product's functionality, we can deliver new features, we can fix bugs, and we can generate customer insights to make the product better over time". This feels like a win for both your company and for your customers.
After all the fuss about Facebook reactions, hardly anyone is using them
It is as though people have been asking for something more than the Like button on Facebook since the concept was first born. After years of asking, Facebook delivered. Facebook Reactions arrived at the end of February to much excitement.
But the excitement was short-lived, it seems. Two months after launch a study has found that hardly anyone is making use of the five new options (Love, Haha, Wow, Sad, and Angry). Analysis by Quintly reveals that Reactions account for a mere 3 percent of interactions, and the findings make for interesting reading.
Marshmallow now runs on 7.5 percent of Android devices
In just two months, Marshmallow has more than doubled its usage share in the Android market, thanks to the introduction of new devices and the availability of more software updates for older but popular handsets.
According to Google's latest figures, which are based on data collected during the seven days ending March 7, 7.5 percent of Android devices now run Marshmallow. When I last covered the distribution numbers in March, its usage share was at just 2.3 percent and it looked like its rise towards the top would be a very slow one.
Windows 10 ruins a pro-gaming stream with a badly-timed update
Last week a Windows 10 forced upgrade did its best to ruin a weather forecast on live television, and this week the new operating system started an update right in the middle of a gaming session being streamed live on Twitch.
During the stream of Counter Strike: Global Offensive, full-time pro-gamer Erik "fl0m" Flom was rudely interrupted as Windows 10 decided that mid-game -- in front of 130,000 or so followers -- would be the best time to start an update.
Messaging apps provide a false sense of security
In the last couple of weeks we have seen consumer messaging giants WhatsApp and Viber retrospectively add end-to-end encryption technology to their communications platforms. The notion of providing users with improved security is certainly to be applauded, and seeing messaging apps adopt encryption as a necessity as opposed to simply a nice-to-have feature, is long overdue.
However, the manner in which providers are increasingly introducing encryption technology within apps as an afterthought is potentially providing a false sense of security to the billions of people that use them on a daily basis.
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