BlackBerry's privacy stance is yet another reason to avoid the company
We are living in a post NSA-world (and I am a post-NSA girl...) and privacy is in the public consciousness more than ever before. After the government surveillance revelations that came courtesy of Eddy Snowden, most tech companies have been trying to stress to customers and clients just how willing they are to stand up for privacy.
But not BlackBerry. Company CEO John Chen has used a blog post to lash out at his contemporaries for supporting strong encryption. He makes a thinly-veiled reference to Apple, accusing that an unwillingness to comply with law enforcement requests put us all in a "dark place". Chen says that "our privacy commitment does not extend to criminals", seemingly failing to recognize that privacy is very much an all-or-nothing concept.
Security researcher finds 685TB of unprotected MongoDB data
There is roughly 685TB of private data from MongoDB instances sitting online, without any protection, researchers have uncovered.
Following the recent discovery by security researcher Chris Vickery, who saw the data of more than 13 million MacKeeper users exposed, another researcher ventured even deeper and found even more unprotected data.
The $5 Raspberry Pi Zero is too damn expensive
When I found out that there was a $5 Raspberry Pi Zero being sold, I rushed to buy one. I did no research as to what it was, but for such a paltry amount of money, I couldn't resist. For whatever reason, I even bought a case for it, which is arguably silly -- why protect such an inexpensive piece of tech?
When it finally arrived, I was impressed with the small size, but very disappointed overall. This may sound incredible, but the $5 Raspberry Pi Zero is just too damn expensive. Quite frankly, it is ridiculous that such a useless computer is being sold. Do you agree?
Amazon Fire TV adds new channels including NBC
Amazon continues to expand its footprint in the set-top box market, a place that has really become a three horse race. Both Amazon, Roku and Apple are all in it to win, but choice really comes down to the customer.
Now the retailer is launching a bunch of new channels to satisfy customer viewing needs. And this update isn't just video, it's also games.
Fake reviews: why and how businesses can steer clear of fraudulent content and gain consumers' trust
With the growth of mobile usage reaching 1.5 billion of users globally, consumers today have easy access to content about a brand, its products and services, as well as tools to quickly create and share opinions, photos and videos, across a variety of social media channels. However, out of all this content, we have recently seen numerous instances of brands fighting fraudulent forms of it. Amazon, for example, announced its plans to sue 1,114 fake reviewers, claiming that the brand reputation is being damaged by "false, misleading and inauthentic" reviews paid for by sellers seeking to improve the appeal of their product. This is the second suit by the online retailer this year, clearly showing that the proliferation of fraudulent online reviews is becoming a critical issue for businesses to address.
Yet consumers have not lost faith in online reviews -- in fact, a survey reveals online reviews impact 67.7 percent of respondents' purchasing decisions. More than half of the respondents (54.7 percent) also admitted that online reviews are fairly, very, or absolutely an important part of their decision-making process, showcasing how much consumers today value authentic peer to peer recommendations. Brands therefore need to take actions to ensure consumers can still rely on and have access to only authentic consumer-generated content (CGC), such as reviews.
Microsoft announces Windows 10 Mobile Preview Build 10586.36, the last Windows 10 Insider build of 2015
Microsoft pushed out a new Windows 10 Insider Preview PC build to the Fast ring yesterday, and today it follows that up with a new update for Windows 10 Mobile.
Build 10586.36 is, as you can guess from the name, a cumulative update and will be released to Windows Insiders in both the Fast and Slow rings.
To truly innovate, Apple needs a lot more than a new COO
Back in April 2013, when Forbes ran a commentary asserting it was time for Tim Cook to go, I forcefully responded that "Apple needs a COO, not new CEO". The day has arrived, with the company announcing this morning that Jeff Williams fills the vacant chief operating officer position. Eh, that's not what I had in mind, and Apple investors should question the wisdom of the appointment, too.
I mean no slight towards Mr. Williams, who looks more than adequately competent to handle the job. Like Cook, when COO, Williams is a manufacturing and logistics leader—excellent credentials to manage day-to-day operations over the world's wealthiest tech company as measured by market cap and quarterly net income. The problem: Cook and Williams are questionable pairing, because their backgrounds and skillsets are too much alike. You got an electron circling another electron in the atom's nucleus.
Apple and IBM partnership reaches 100 enterprise apps milestone
Apple and IBM today announced that they have reached the 100-app milestone in their mobile partnership, covering 60 professional roles across 14 different industries including government, transportation, healthcare and telecommunications.
Maribel Lopez, principal at Lopez Research said: "I think [Apple] brings the concept of simplicity (direct to task) and beauty to enterprise apps. IBM on the other hand understands business workflow, what generates productivity and back-end integration".
Microsoft opens developer-focused HoloLens experience at NYC flagship store
Virtual reality is hardly new -- it has been around for many years. The sudden popularity, however, is due to lower prices and improved technology. Makeshift headsets like Google's Cardboard impressively leverage existing smartphones, but are limited by being nothing more than slabs strapped to the user's face.
Microsoft's HoloLens is far more advanced as it blends reality with fantasy, for augmented reality, or AR. Yes, it is certainly more expensive, but as wise people say, "you get what you pay for" -- AR arguably has more potential than VR. More importantly, not only is the Windows-maker's solution designed for consumers, but for business and scientific purposes too. For example, NASA is embracing HoloLens. With that said, hardware is only as good as its software, so today, Microsoft announces the opening of a developer-focused HoloLens experience at its NYC flagship store. Will this encourage development?
The Internet of Things is becoming part of consumer's daily lives
According to the latest Digital Trends Report from Adobe Digital Index (ADI) the Internet of Things is gaining a foothold in more and more people's lives.
The report is based on 22 billion visits to branded websites and over 20 million social engagements across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other sites. Also included in the report is survey data based on 400 US consumers who own either a smartphone or tablet.
AVG update to fix false Trojan warning
Anti-virus giant AVG sparked fear among internet users on Thursday after its popular security scanner falsely identified websites as infected with a malicious Trojan horse application.
Visitors to popular websites, such as Mirror.co.uk and Twitch.tv, were greeted with a warning that AVG had detected a threat called "Trojan horse Exploit.SWF_c.AP", with the recommendation to remove it. Once removed, the warning pop-up window would reappear multiple times.
Look out! 12 frankly fantastic FREE software giveaways this festive season!
Tis the season for giving, and we’ve been swept up in the holiday mood. This year, Downloadcrew Giveaway returns with a major bang, with no fewer than 12 (twelve) free software downloads for Windows users over the festive period!
From next Monday (December 21) to New Year’s Eve (Thursday 31), we’ll be hosting one free giveaway a day on the special Downloadcrew Giveaway site -- make sure you bookmark it now!
Desktop and mobile habits of employees revealed
Do you know how your employees are accessing content within your business? Enterprise file sharing specialist Egnyte has analyzed all of the unstructured data from its customers, no matter what device, storage, or apps they use, to discover the latest trends.
Having looked at this data over the last 12 months, they uncovered some interesting facts about the diversity of employee interactions with their company content.
Slack announces App Directory store
The business communication tool Slack is trying to end the year on a high note, and looking at what the company announced yesterday, it seems to be on the right track.
The team-communication app, which now has two million daily users and 570,000 paying customers has announced three things -- an app store which will offer other productivity tools (like Trello, for example) to integrate with Slack, an $80 million fund to help developers create more apps for the store, and a new framework called Botkit which should simplify the process of creating apps.
New survey reveals global Android usage trends
Mobile marketing company Celltick has mined its user interaction data to produce an Android Usage Trends report revealing insights on how users around the world use their mobile phones.
Among the key findings are that the vast majority of smartphones in Asia (71 percent) and the Middle East and Africa continue to be configured with English. Facebook might be ubiquitous, however, Facebook Messenger is only popular on low-end phones, amongst higher-end handsets, Skype is the most common application installed.
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