Latest Technology News

Whether you’re worried about malware, or just need to find out what someone else is doing on a PC, logging any executables launched can tell you a lot.

Normally this involves installing some kind of monitoring application, like the Event Monitor Service we talked about last week, but if you’re trying to track PC usage without someone’s knowledge, that can be risky.

There's a new preview build for Xbox One, and it sees the arrival of Xbox 360 Backward compatible games in the Store. Coming from the TH2 branch, the update makes it easier to discover games that are backwards compatible with the older console.

The availability of backwards compatible games not only helps to increase the number of games Xbox One users can choose from, but also helps to reduce the cost of gaming -- older games are significantly cheaper than newer titles.

It's been almost five years since the infamous Japanese earthquake and tsunami event. On March 11, 2011 the cataclysmic natural disaster unfolded, seemingly before our eyes thanks to 24-hour news coverage. The world watched in horror and donations poured in for relief efforts.

While I doubt anyone has really forgotten that terrible day, it has faded in the memories, except for those who live there or have friends and relatives in the area.

Ransomware is a growing problem, with businesses and individuals increasingly having their data encrypted and held to ransom. As with so many forms of malware, it has been PC users that have borne the brunt of attacks, but over the weekend it was Mac owners that were targeted by the KeRanger ransomware.

The malicious software first appeared on Friday and is said to be the first fully-functional example of ransomware aimed at Apple devices. KeRanger was found to be installed alongside the Transmission BitTorrent client, and while Apple has used its Gatekeeper security system to prevent further infections, if you have installed Transmission 2.90 there are steps you need to take to clean up your system.

IT professionals believe their organization's data is more secure in the cloud than in on-premise machines, a new survey by Evolve IP, entitled 2016 Cloud Adoption suggests.

To be more precise, private clouds are the most popular solution, followed by public clouds, followed by on-premise machines. The survey polled more than 1,080 individuals and has unveiled that 91 percent of all organizations have at least one service in the cloud.

It’s a common PC problem. A dialog box appears with some key data, you need to copy it to the clipboard, but -- the text isn’t selectable, so you're forced to retype it.

The Control Panel "System" applet is a perfect example. It has several lengthy lines of text you might really want to save -- Product ID, Processor Type -- but none of them are selectable.

The inventor of email, Ray Tomlinson, has passed away at the age of 74. Yes, the man who changed the way we communicate, is no longer with us. His invention was revolutionary, essentially killing the written letter and causing heartache to the United States Postal Service.

As great as his invention was, and continues to be, it is starting to get long in the tooth. In other words, alternative communication services, like text messaging, iMessage, Slack, Telegram, and more, could possibly lead to the death of email. Will email soon leave our lives?

Google has been testing driverless cars for a little while now, and the next stage in autonomous vehicles is driver-free lorries. Freed from the constraints of human drivers who have an irritating need to sleep, driverless lorries would be able to deliver goods over long distances faster than ever.

Driverless convoys of lorries are due to be trialled in the UK later this year as part of an attempt to not only speed up deliveries, but also reduce congestion on the roads. The Department for Transport wants the UK to lead the way in the use of "HGV (Heavy Goods Vehicle) platoons". The trials will take place on public roads.

We've become used to the idea of online surveillance thanks to Edward Snowden blowing the lid off the activities of the NSA and GCHQ. While it's easy and natural to bemoan the infringement of privacy such surveillance entails, no one ensures as limited and controlled an internet as the Chinese.

There's the famous Great Firewall of China for starters, and as part of a counter-terrorism program the country also passed a law requiring tech companies to provide access to encryption keys. Now the Communist Party has ordered one of its defense contractors to develop software that uses big data to predict terrorist activity.

Despite the publicity that music service Tidal has received recently thanks to the exclusive release of the Kanye West album, it has continued to struggle. Rumors the past few weeks have swirled around a potential sale of the streaming service, with Samsung being front and center among the candidates as a possible buyer.

Samsung has already shuttered its video service and there's a chance its Milk Music service is on the chopping block. While Milk has seemingly gained some footing with the free version of the Pandora-like radio, it has little in the way of paid subscribers.

In the run-up to the presidential election, few days go by when Donald Trump isn't hitting the headlines for something he's said or done. The bombastic billionaire looks set to become the republican candidate, and his journey towards the White House is littered with offense and controversy, and back in December Anonymous declared war on him.

The loose collective of hackers and activist made its declaration after Trump announced plans to ban Muslims from entering the US. One of the alleged first strikes in Anonymous' war sees the group hacking the businessman's voicemail and leaking the messages. The messages appear to show that Trump had a surprisingly cosy relationship with the more left-leaning section of the media than one might imagine.

While the news about the dispute between Apple and the FBI rages on, security researchers continue to look for other ways into products, not just the iPhone. But as a prominent device it becomes a big target and deserves extra scrutiny.

The security experts from Israel and Australia decided to test out the electromagnetic radiation emitted by devices, in this case using an iPhone. The results were interesting, though they won't help in the case of phones in the custody of law enforcement.

The precise number of websites out there running on WordPress may not be known, but one thing is for sure -- there are a lot of them. Two reasons for the popularity of WordPress are the ease of set up and the availability of a huge range of plugins. One popular plugin, Custom Content Type Manager (CCTM), has just been pulled from the WordPress Plugin Directory after a backdoor was discovered.

The plugin has been installed on thousands of websites, and a recent update -- automatically installed for many users -- included a worrying payload. In the hands of a new developer, Custom Content Type Manager made changes to core WordPress files, ultimately making it possible to steal admin passwords and transmit them in plaintext to a remote server.

After tweeting that Microsoft tends to avoid releasing new Insider Preview builds on a Friday so the team doesn’t have to work over the weekend dealing with potential issues, Microsoft’s Gabe Aul pushed the button to release a new Windows 10 build on a Friday.

Fast ring releases sometimes have a lot of new features and changes, but can often just deliver a few internal tweaks. Insider Preview Redstone Build 14279 falls into the former camp, with improvements to Cortana, logon, and apps.

It is snowing once again in New York today -- won't the winter madness ever end? This dreary weather has largely kept me indoors; reading magazines, watching TV, and enjoying the occasional movie. Nothing's better than getting cozy on your couch with a warm blanket and cup of tea to watch a good film.

With that said, this weekend is looking like a good candidate for some movie watching. Unfortunately, picking a movie can be daunting -- there are so many to choose from. Even worse, paying to rent a movie that ends up being bad can make you feel like you've been robbed. If you share my concerns, I have good news -- you can score a Google Play movie rental for 50 percent off. It is a limited offer, however, so you must act fast.