Latest Technology News

Apple's fight with the FBI is about LGBTQ issues as well as privacy

As the battle between the FBI and Apple rumbles on, the debate about encryption has intensified, bringing with it renewed discussion about privacy. There are few people who would want to give up their right to privacy and allow unrestricted access to their personal communication, but there are some for whom privacy is even more important.

Tim Cook is just one of the voices shouting that a backdoor for the government would be a backdoor for anyone. Most people and companies have sided with Apple saying that rather than backdoor access, what's needed is stronger encryption, greater security, even more robust privacy. It's something that has the support of people from all walks of life, but it's an issue that's very close to the hearts of the LGBTQ community.

Continue reading

Email marketing works

You might be annoyed by the constant marketing you’re getting in your email, but that’s only because research shows that the method works. Not only does it work, but it’s working better than (almost) ever.

Email marketing software provider Sign-Up.to released its new annual Email Marketing Benchmark Report, looking at how successful email marketing campaigns are. It employed some serious numbers into its results -- more than a billion emails across 29 industry sectors, looking at various parameters such as click through rates, open rates and so on.

Continue reading

Google Maps for Android gets pretty stickers

When I was in elementary school, and even early into high school, I would decorate my notebooks and binders with stickers. In the 80s, it was Garbage Pail Kids, and as I got older, rock bands and such. Yeah, I was totally cool.

In the tech world, customization is always popular, including stickers. Think about it -- some people decorate their laptops with stickers, while other folks put case badges on their gaming PCs. Today, Google is bringing virtual stickers to Google Maps on Android.

Continue reading

Want the best customer support? Use Facebook

Facebook is the number one channel for people looking to get answers from retailers’ customer service in the UK, a new study shows.

According to the Eptica Multichannel Customer Experience study, Facebook is the channel through which retail customer service answers most frequently and most accurately, followed by email. Twitter came in third, with pretty poor results.

Continue reading

Chelsea Manning: Insider Threat document shows US government employees are under surveillance

The US government is busy putting thousands of its own employees under 'permanent surveillance' according to a document obtained by Chelsea Manning. In the wake of leaks by the likes of Edward Snowden and WikiLeaks, the government set up the Insider Threat program in an attempt to nip future leaks in the bud.

It's a while since Manning was in the news, the last notable appearance being when the solider formerly known as Bradley Manning joined Twitter from prison. But the latest document released by Manning -- obtained using a freedom of information request -- shows that the government is not afraid to use NSA-style tactics on its own employees.

Continue reading

Communifire makes building an intranet easier for smaller businesses

Developer

The use of an intranet helps businesses promote engagement in teams and enable staff to become more productive. But often intranets are seen as the preserve of large corporations.

Software company Axero is launching the latest version of its Communifire intranet platform aimed at small and medium enterprises.

Continue reading

More than a third of UK universities are under attack every hour

Cyber attack

VMware today announced research revealing that over a third (36 percent) of UK universities are under attack by a cyber attack, on not just on a daily basis, but each hour. Furthermore, the attacks are so frequent and widespread that 83 percent of universities believe that cyber attacks are increasing in frequency and sophistication.

VMware’s research shows that a high percentage of University campuses are being singled out and attacked due to their open architecture.

Continue reading

OS X and Linux threaten Windows' dominance in developer market

OS X and Linux are nowhere near as popular as Windows when we look at the PC market as a whole, but the two platforms are actually extremely popular with a certain crowd. According to a StackOverflow survey, 26.2 percent of developers use Apple's Mac operating system, while distributions based on the open-source kernel are not that far behind, having a combined 21.7 percent usage share.

This may come as a bit of a shock, but, yes, OS X and Linux are nearly as popular as Windows among developers. In fact, according to StackOverflow, "If OS adoption rates hold steady, by next year's survey fewer than 50 percent of developers may be using Windows" -- and, obviously, OS X and Linux will come out even more popular in the process.

Continue reading

Off-the-shelf BYOD systems bring privacy and security risks

cyber crisis

When companies allow staff to use their own systems to access corporate data, the devices used can often be outside of IT department control.

But how much of a security and privacy hazard is presented by a new off-the-shelf laptop? Security company Duo Labs set out to discover the risks by buying a number of OEM Windows 10 machines in the US, Canada and the UK and testing them for vulnerabilities.

Continue reading

Twitter drops TweetDeck for Windows, but Mac version is safe

Even though TweetDeck is one of the most powerful and beloved Twitter clients for Windows, the social network has announced that it will soon drop support for the program, leaving fans with just the web app at their disposal. However, the Mac version of TweetDeck is not affected, remaining in the lineup for the foreseeable future.

Twitter has not exactly provided a reason why it is pulling TweetDeck for Windows, only saying that this is being done "to better focus on enhancing [users'] TweetDeck experience". However, the fact that it just launched a new version of Twitter for Windows 10 likely plays a role in its decision.

Continue reading

Cooperating with the good guys: Is NSA snooping really that bad?

Ever since Edward Snowden, a former US National Security Agency (NSA) contractor, leaked information about the internet spying activities conducted by the NSA, there has been an unrest among Americans. The main concern for most people is that their privacy has been intruded without their permission.

Many Americans are also worried about the things that the NSA and the US administration could do with access to such "private" data. And the revelation about several tech giants, including Yahoo and Google, being involved has probably made people even more circumspect about using online services based in the US.

Continue reading

Apple vs FBI: Tim Cook concedes helping authorities is a theoretical possibility

In the Apple vs FBI fight, the issue is very black and white for many people; you support Apple's position of standing firm against the FBI, or you believe the FBI should have unfettered access to whatever data it wants, regardless of the consequences.

Tim Cook has been steadfast in his position, but in an interview with TIME the Apple CEO admits that the situation is not entirely binary. Presented with a thought experiment Cook appears to concede there are gray areas, opening up the possibility of assisting the FBI to break into the San Bernardino shooter's iPhone.

Continue reading

How to install and use extensions in Microsoft Edge on Windows 10

Starting in Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 14291, Microsoft has introduced a selection of extensions for its Edge browser.

While the software giant promises that popular add-ons like AdBlock, Adblock Plus, Amazon, LastPass, and Evernote are on their way, it’s launched the feature with three rather less-exciting offerings -- Mouse Gestures, Microsoft Translator and an early version of Reddit Enhancement Suite.

Continue reading

Best Windows apps this week

One-hundred and seventy-two in a series. Welcome to this week's overview of the best apps and games released for Windows 8.x and Windows 10 in the past seven days.

Microsoft released a new Insider Build yesterday, the first with support for Microsoft Edge extensions. Extensions will be offered through Windows Store once they are rolled out to all users.

Continue reading

How to play Facebook's secret basketball game

Who doesn't love a good Easter egg? Apps, games and websites have all manner of hidden secrets, and Facebook is no different. It's not all that long ago that we showed you how to play the chess game secreted in Facebook Messenger and now another gem has been unearthed.

Also hidden away in Facebook Messenger you'll find a basketball game -- just in time for March Madness. Be warned, it's quite addictive but shooting some hoops is a great way to kill some time with a friend. All you need is an Android smartphone or an iPhone.

Continue reading

© 1998-2024 BetaNews, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy - Cookie Policy.