Latest Technology News

Around the globe, IT directors are experiencing a common problem. What is that problem, you ask? The fact of the matter is backup environments worldwide are becoming increasingly challenging to manage. You might be asking yourself how this assertion could possibly be accurate, especially with the sudden boost in technology. Truth be told, the increase in technology is part of the problem.

Many directors in the IT world are finding themselves with less support, but are not asked to do any less. Things can quickly get chaotic when staff is not replaced, IT budgets shrink, service-level expectations continue to rise, and ROI-based business cases are created for purchased hardware even though storages spaces are completely maxed out. Sounds like a mess, right?

Professional social network LinkedIn is suing 100 anonymous individuals for data scraping. It is hoped that a court order will be able to reveal the identities of those responsible for using bots to harvest user data from the site.

The Microsoft-owned service takes pride in the relationship it has with its users and the security it offers their data. Its lawsuit seeks to use the data scrapers' IP addresses and then discover their true identity in order to take action against them.

In May, Microsoft introduced a Convenience Rollup for Windows 7 SP1 that brought the operating system fully up to date. The company also announced that it would be issuing monthly update rollups for Windows 7 and 8.1, as well as Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1, Windows Server 2012 and Windows Server 2012 R2.

Those rollups only contained non-security updates, so you could still choose which security patches to apply, which to avoid, and when to apply them. Not anymore.

Android has had something of a rough time of things lately with the discovery of the Quadrooter vulnerability and the revelation that a flaw in version 3.6 of the Linux kernel also affects Google's mobile operating system.

Security firm Lookout estimates that 80 percent of Android devices (around 1.4 billion devices) are affected. While initial reports suggested that devices up to Android 4.4 KitKat are at risk, further testing shows that the problem still exists all the way up to Android 7.0 Nougat.

As many as 20 hotels in the US have been hit by malware, and fears are spreading that customer data, including credit card information, was stolen.

According to a Reuters report, hotels under attack include Starwood, Marriott, Hyatt and Intercontinental -- all part of the HEI Hotels & Restaurants.

Video chat should be simple, but it is not. The biggest issue is fragmentation. On iOS, for instance, Facetime is a wonderfully easy solution, but there is no Android client. While there are plenty of cross-platform third-party options to solve this, they aren't always elegant. Skype is a good example of an app that should bridge the gap, but ends up being buggy and clunky.

Google is aiming to solve this dilemma with its 'Duo' video chat app. With it, the search giant is putting a heavy focus on ease of use. The offering is available for both Android and iOS -- the only two mobile platforms that matter (sorry, Windows 10 Mobile). Announced three months ago, it finally sees release today. There is no news about the Allo chat sister-app, sadly.

While I am technically not a millennial, I border on the cut-off. Actually, I think I am considered Generation Y, but I digress. Still, I can understand some of these young folks' likes and behaviors. While I cannot grasp the popularity of Snapchat, for instance, I totally love emoji.

Speaking of emoji, Twitter recently introduced "Stickers" which are really just emoji overlays for photos. In other words, you can jazz up your pictures on the social network with virtual stickers. Yes, it is arguably millennial nonsense, but it is actually quite fun. Today, Twitter announces 'Promoted Stickers' -- a way to monetize the feature. The first partner is Pepsi -- a sugar-water seller which once billed itself as "The Choice of a New Generation".

Keeping patients’ confidential records secure is of utmost importance to healthcare organizations and the vendors who work alongside them. Not only is the proper safeguarding of information a good practice, it’s the law.

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) seeks to protect the sensitive data of patients and to empower healthcare practitioners to keep that information safe through strong security and privacy policies.

The 2016 Rio Olympics is well and truly underway and technology is now playing a more prominent role -- both for the athletes and fans -- than ever before.

John Rakowski, director of technology strategy at AppDynamic, takes a look at the different types of technology being used in Rio during this Olympics season, featuring payments, video streaming and data.

The GoPro Hero4 Black has triggered a 4K craze in the action camera market. Just about any new device that comes out these days seems to have 4K video recording listed in its specs sheet. What's interesting is that many of these products are offered at some unbelievable prices, significantly lower than what you would have to spend for a premium action camera, like GoPro's flagship. So, you can understand their appeal.

The ThiEye i60 4K is good example, being one of the most affordable 4K action cameras on the market today. It ticks all the right boxes in terms of specs, boasting a built-in display on the back, 4k video recording at 25FPS and 1080p video recording at 60FPS, but it can be had for less than $100. The bang for the buck factor is quite certainly very appealing, as it delivers some of the best features of the Hero4 Black -- the 4K video recording -- and Hero4 Silver -- the screen -- at a much more reasonable price point. But just how good is it really? I've put the i60 4K to the test to find out.

NFL pre-season football is in full swing, meaning regular season games will be here before you know it. It is a league where anything can happen. Injuries (which are prevalent in USA football) can change rankings in the blink of an eye. If you participate in Fantasy Football, for instance, you know how things can change from week to week.

While many folks compete in fantasy leagues and track their favorite teams using smartphones nowadays, nothing trumps a full-fledged PC experience. This is what Microsoft's Surface Pro line of tablets can deliver. If you do use a Surface Pro 3 or 4 computer, and you love the NFL, Microsoft has something that will make you giddy --  Special Edition NFL Type Covers. Yes, all 32 teams are represented. This includes my favorite team, the J-E-T-S, JETS, JETS, JETS!

Last year, Microsoft announced that a virtual reality version of Minecraft was in the works. Today Minecraft: Windows 10 Edition Beta gains VR support, as Microsoft works with the Oculus Rift team to produce a more immersive version of the game.

In terms of controlling the VR version of Minecraft, you have the option of using a keyboard and mouse, or sticking with your trusty Xbox One controller. There are also a host of new VR-specific options to work with.

Another plugin bites the dust. The Windows and macOS versions of Firefox have supported the Widevine video protocol for a little while now, and the upcoming Firefox 49 for Linux gets the same treatment.

What this means is that streaming video services that use the Google-owned protocol -- including Netflix and Amazon Prime Video -- can be watched without the need for plugins.

To unleash the power of the hybrid cloud, enterprises need to create increasingly complex environments using a growing number of resources on top of Infrastructure-as-a-service platforms (IaaS). However, creating robust network topologies on top of IaaS is challenging and complicated. So, how can organizations implement a true, connected, secured hybrid cloud datacenter solution? A hybrid networking environment may look the same, but actually acts differently. Cloud providers’ tools and configuration often limit flexibility, jeopardizing visibility with poor network control.

Building a proper hybrid datacenter requires a deep understanding of the provider environment to connect, secure, segment, configure routing and enable access policy with a mix of internal and external subnets. What follows are three options for securing a hybrid cloud datacenter built on Amazon Web Services. If you don’t have a hybrid cloud datacenter with AWS, you can learn more about implementing one here.

Back in the day, people had to walk into a bank in order to rob it. They also had to walk into a car in order to steal it. Nowadays, people rob banks from the comfort of their home (or their parents’ basements), and it’s only a matter of time before they start hijacking cars the same way.

According to a couple of researchers, whose work has been covered by Wired recently, we’re already halfway there -- a new vulnerability has been found which allows hackers to remotely unlock 100 million Volkswagen cars.