Store your personal data in a HAT to keep it safe
As we use the internet we give away information to lots of sites from shopping portals to search engines. The growth of the Internet of Things is likely to see a further boost in the amount of data held and shared about us.
The Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG) at the University of Warwick in the UK is working on £1.2 million HAT (Hub-of-all-things) research project to develop a platform technology where individuals can keep all their personal data in one place.
LG unveils new stylus-toting phablet
LG likes to do things differently when it comes to product announcements, revealing some things ahead of the big unveiling. Case in point are the Quick Cover accessory and Active Display technology for its upcoming G5, which were presented ahead of the new flagship. But with its new Stylus 2, I think it has taken things a bit too far.
LG says that Stylus 2 will be unveiled at MWC 2016, which takes place later this week in Barcelona. But, considering that it has officially announced virtually everything we may want to know about this new phablet and even posted presentation photos, I wonder exactly what will be left for it to "unveil".
New solution protects enterprise websites from attack
Some of the latest cyber attacks seek to steal information using man-in-the-browser (MITB) attacks. These represent a dangerous trend because they circumvent even the strongest authentication techniques by hijacking the session after the user has authenticated a bank or other site.
Threat intelligence start up buguroo is looking to combat this with its new online fraud detection solution that can detect hijacked sessions in real time and stop them before any money leaves the bank.
Microsoft's Lego-like PC makes upgrading super-easy
Part of the reason the PC was originally so successful is down upgradability, and that’s still a factor today. If your computer starts to run a little sluggish, you can always add more RAM, or swap your HDD for an SSD. Some PCs are easier to upgrade than others, but Microsoft is looking into a way to make upgrading so easy that absolutely anyone could do it.
The idea is a modular computer that consists of magnetic units that you can snap off without the use of tools and replace with newer, better components. Not unlike building a PC from Lego.
UK government wants money-making porn sites to age-check visitors
The UK government is launching a public consultation over its plans to require pornographic websites to verify that visitors are aged 18 or over. The Conservative party wants to deliver on its manifesto pledge to introduce age verification to all porn sites, but the latest proposals go further.
The government wants all companies that profit from pornography online to implement systems to have a legal requirement to ensure that visitors are over 18. The consultation runs until 12 April and has the aim of using British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) issued 18 / 18R ratings for sites, but it's unclear how effective the system would be for free porn sites.
The Vega+ is a handheld ZX Spectrum packed with retro goodness
If you grew up in the UK in the 1980s, you likely either had a Sinclair ZX Spectrum or a Commodore 64. I was firmly in the Spectrum camp, and whiled away much of my youth playing classics such as Jet Set Willy and Skool Daze.
Retro Computers, led by Sir Clive Sinclair, last year resurrected the Spectrum in the form of the Vega, and this year it’s following up that low-cost games computer with a handheld model -- the Vega+.
IBM unveils new mainframe for secure hybrid clouds
More and more organizations are seeing the benefits of adopting the hybrid cloud, but they don’t want to risk sacrificing the security advantages of more traditional systems.
To help businesses tap into hybrid cloud without sacrificing security, IBM is announcing a new mainframe, the z13s. Building on the mainframe’s world-class performance and security profile, the z13s features new embedded security technologies, enhanced data encryption and tighter integrations with IBM Security solutions.
Has Windows 10 reset your default apps back to Microsoft stock?
Yesterday, The Inquirer reported on how Windows 10 was resetting some changed app defaults back to Microsoft’s own bundled universal apps.
In the primary example given, image viewer Irfanview was displaced by Windows 10’s own Photos app, a change that had been instigated, it seems, by cumulative update KB3135173.
End of an era as pioneering BBC3 becomes an online-only station
13 years ago, BBC3 launched in the UK. Last night, the TV station broadcast over the airwaves for the last time. In a bid to slash expenditure, the youth-oriented channel that launched countless comedy careers is now only available online.
The likes of Being Human, The Mighty Boosh, Gavin and Stacey, and the like will live on, but only on the web -- which the BBC is spinning as an opportunity to be freed from the constraints of regular scheduling. The change has been known about for some time now, and there have been a number of campaigns and petitions to try to get the BBC to change its mind.
Ransomware is lucrative -- almost half of all victims pay
I recently covered a story in which security firm Imperva said Cryptowall 3.0 was the most successful ransomware of all time, earning its creators $325 million (£225.7m) so far. Now another story about ransomware emerges, and this one comes from another major security firm, Bitdefender.
In its report, the company says almost half (44 percent) of all ransomware victims have paid to get their data back, with 39 percent saying they expect to be attacked again, in the future.
You can now watch Hulu on your Windows 10 device
You could always watch Hulu on your PC or Mac, or for that matter, on multiple other mobile devices. Now the streaming service wants to integrate much deeper, using Windows 10 as its launchpad.
This doesn't mean it will cease to be accessible in all of the previous ways, it just adds one more option for customers of the service.
iPad Pro's fatal flaw? [fifth in a series]
Editor's Note: Apple contacted me on February 16th, suggesting the short battery life is abnormal. We discussed tech support option but I chose instead to replace the whole kit—iPad Pro and keyboard—to see if the short battery life with Smart Keyboard is a one-off hardware problem.
The follow-up post, on February 24th, countermands the negative conclusions stated in this review. Battery life from the second kit is hugely satisfying and plenty long enough for the typical workday. The user experiences aren't comparable. I debated about deleting the original story but that feels like hiding something. Hopefully this addendum sufficiently retracts the original conclusion.
What you need to know about biometric security
Generally speaking, biometrics refers to the measure or statistical analysis of a person’s physical or biological characteristics. However, increasingly the term is being defined more narrowly, at least in a business context, to refer to biometric security.
Although passwords can be guessed and network vulnerabilities exploited, overcoming biometric security protocols is significantly more challenging. For example, how would a cybercriminal go about duplicating a fingerprint or an iris scan? As a result, the unique aspects that make up our physical features are increasingly being utilized for authentication methods by businesses all over the world.
How to find and buy the ever-elusive $5 Raspberry Pi Zero
The Raspberry Pi Zero is incredibly hard to get hold off. Hardly surprising, when you consider its $5 asking price.
Retailers such as The Pi Hut do replenish their stocks on a semi-regular basis, but even so you’ll have to act fast as even with a one-per-customer restriction in place, they sell out again almost immediately. Fortunately, there is a clever way to find out where the Pi Zero is in stock.
IT security experts are confident they can spot a data breach
A new study by security firm Tripwire says IT security experts are very confident they can detect a breach, and that they can detect it quite fast. For automated tools, they do not share the same levels of confidence.
The survey questioned 763 IT professionals in various verticals, including retail, energy, financial services and public sector organizations in the US, about the seven key security controls that need to be in place in order to quickly spot an ongoing hack attack.
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