Apple IDs targeted in global phishing scam
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A new phishing threat is targeting businesses and consumers with Apple IDs in an effort to steal IDs, passwords and credit card information.
The attack has been identified by Comodo Antispam Labs and looks like an official Apple email. It has the Apple logo and includes Apple's physical address, as well as an email address that, at a quick glance, appears to to be from Apple -- giving the recipient the illusion of the message being authentic.
Xiaomi's new Mi Band 1s offers a heart rate sensor for less than $16
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Xiaomi has taken the wearables market by storm with Mi Band. The unassuming fitness tracker arrived more than a year ago with a price tag shy of $30 but with a feature set that rivals other offerings costing more than three times as much. Thanks to sales of over 10 million units, it has turned the ever-growing Chinese company from the new kid on the block into the third-largest wearables maker.
But, in the time following the launch of Mi Band, Xiaomi's competitors have diversified their lineups, introducing new models with novel features that make it seem a bit dated in comparison. Enter the second-generation Mi Band, called Mi Band 1s.
Post-Stagefright analysis shows Android users remain indifferent to attacks
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In the past few months, Android users have seen a series of attacks by hackers exploiting bugs, collectively putting more than a billion devices at risk worldwide.
In late July, Stagefright hit the news as a weakness in the system that was being exploited by hackers. This was followed by Stagefright 2.0 and Kemoge, making for massive malware attacks on Android phones in three out of the last four months.
Poor management of admin accounts puts businesses at risk
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Login details for an administrator or other privileged account falling into the wrong hands can have serious consequences for a business.
But a new global security survey from Dell reveals that organizations have haphazard processes for managing administrative or other privileged accounts, making them vulnerable to security breaches.
Most IT pros are against UK's Investigatory Powers bill
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Late last week, the UK government introduced a new Investigatory Powers bill, which requires Internet service providers to keep a record of the Internet activity of everyone in Britain, as well as cracking down on encryption and increasing government surveillance.
The initial reaction from industry professionals was mixed, but a new survey from Swiss data bank Artmotion has found that a massive 87 percent of IT leaders disagree with the government’s plan to reduce the strength of data encryption.
Pinterest's crazy new search tool helps out when words fail you
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For years now we have been using words to perform searches -- but words have their limitations. It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words, and this is something that Pinterest has taken to heart with its latest search tool.
There are times when words fail us all. You might know exactly what it is you want to say, but you have no idea how to say it. To help on such occasions, Pinterest today unveils a "crazy-fun new visual search tool" that lets you select an object in an image to search for other pictures of it. Confused?
How to easily access Google Drive files from Microsoft Office
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AMD hit with deceptive marketing lawsuit over Bulldozer chip core claims
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Chip-maker AMD faces a lawsuit for misleading adverts for its Bulldozer processors. The legal action has been started by Tony Dickey at the US District Court for the Northern District of California, San Jose Division; the allegation is that the Bulldozer CPU is advertised as having 8 cores, but it effectively has just 4.
The architecture of the chip is such that each of the cores is unable to operate independently meaning that it functions in the same way as a 4-core processor. AMD faces allegations under the Consumer Legal Remedies Act, California’s Unfair Competition Law, as well as false advertising, fraud, breach of express warrant, negligent misrepresentation and unjust enrichment.
Facebook censors links to social network Tsu.co
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Anyone who tries to post links to Tsu.co on Facebook, Facebook Messenger, or Instagram will find that they are unable to do so. If you've not heard of Tsu.co, it's another social network, and your initial thought may be that Facebook is trying to censor people from talking about rivals.
Facebook blocks any messages containing the URL from being posted, warning that the site is 'unsafe'. Tsu.co different from other social networks in that it is invite-only and promises to share ad-revenue with users. This has resulted in huge levels of Tsu.co-related spam appearing on Facebook and the susequent ban.
Pandora makes music discovery even easier
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Music services are an ever increasing market, with new ones popping up all the time. There are a few that have distanced themselves from the pack, though. One of those is Pandora which takes a song and analyzes it in an effort to create a station with similar music. You can argue if this works, but it does in most cases, at least based in my experience,
Now Tim Westergren's little hobby is launch an enhanced discover service in an effort to make it even easier to find music.
Want a Pebble Time Round? It's heading to stores and begins shipping soon
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While I have made a bit of fun of the Pebble Time Round's Swatch-type look, that doesn't mean it's a bad product. Honestly Pebble is the product that opened the public's eyes to smartwatches. It wasn't the first, but it set the tone of what to expect with the future of wearable technology.
The round version of the latest watch was creatively called Time and it was a huge hit on Kickstarter when it debuted. The round version came along later and now it's here, hitting retail outlets and ready to start shipping for those who have, or wish to, get it online.
The NSA keeps 9 percent of the vulnerabilities it discovers to itself
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Openness and the NSA are not happy bedfellows; by its very nature, the agency is highly secretive. But in recent years, post-Edward Snowden, the organization has embarked on something of a PR campaign in an attempt to win back public trust.
The latest manoeuvre sees the NSA promoting the fact that when it discovers security vulnerabilities and zero-days in software, it goes public with them in 91 percent of cases... but not before it has exploited them. No information about the timescale for disclosures is given, but what most people will be interested in is the remaining 9 percent which the agency keeps to itself.
Privacy blow as FCC says websites can ignore Do Not Track requests
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People are more concerned than ever before about online privacy, and this is the very reason Consumer Watchdog filed a petition to force websites to honor Do Not Track Requests. The Federal Communications Commission handed down a ruling which is not going to please privacy advocates.
In short, the FCC has said that websites should be under no obligation to take notice of Do Not Track requests. The commission dismissed Consumer Watchdog's petition that called for 'edge providers' -- such as Google, Facebook, YouTube, Pandora, Netflix, and LinkedIn -- to respect people's privacy if they enabled the Do Not Track option in their web browser.
Experts warn that placing your router near a lamp slows down internet speeds
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Few people would argue against the idea that router placement -- particularly when it comes to maximizing Wi-Fi footprint -- is important. But it is not just the location that's key; broadband speeds could also be affected by seemingly innocuous objects in the home.
The head of the UK's communications regulator Ofcom warns that numerous electrical goods in the home can interfere with signals and slow down the internet. It's a problem that affects around 20 percent of households, and while there are some obvious culprits on the list of web-killers such as stereos and baby monitors, there are also some surprises.
Fast broadband to be classed a 'fundamental right'
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Every home and business in the UK will have access to "fast broadband" by 2020. This is the latest pledge from Prime Minister David Cameron, who said that access to the internet "should be a right".
At the moment, 83 percent of people have access to superfast (24Mbps and faster) internet connections, and by 2017 this is expected to rise to 95 percent. The latest plan is directed at the "last 5 percent" -- such as people in remote areas -- and will oblige broadband providers to supply at least 10Mbps broadband to anyone who demands it.
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