Latest Technology News

Security firm Avira has won a court case that can not only be chalked up as a win for consumer rights, but could also set something of a precedent. German company Freemium.com took Avira to court for warning users about 'potentially unwanted applications' that could be bundled along with a number of popular games and applications.

Freemium.com downloads included a number of unwanted extras in the form of browser toolbars, free trial applications, adware, and other crapware. Avira's antivirus software warned users installing such applications; Freemium took objection to this and filed a cease and desist letter, claiming anti-competitive practices. But the court ruled in Avira's favor, saying it could continue to flag up and block questionable software.

The Fourth of July is almost here. You know what that means, right? USA Independence Day! Yes, on this day, Americans will barbeque delicious meats and watch fireworks to celebrate the signing of the Declaration of Independence and subsequent defeat of the tyrannical British empire. Of course, our former oppressors are now one of our greatest allies.

Microsoft is one of the most famed American companies, and one of its founders, Bill Gates, is a great example of how anyone can become a success within America's borders. Today, Microsoft announces that it is celebrating the people that earned the USA its freedoms -- our veterans -- by sponsoring a 60 day, 3,400 mile relay race called the "Old Glory Relay". What great news so close to July 4th!

Speaking at the Freescale Technology Forum about the growth of artificial intelligence, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak has claimed that one day robots will be in charge and will treat humans as their pets.

After previously warning about the dangers of AI, "the woz" now believes that the robots we create will learn to protect and nurture us in much the same way that we look after dogs today.

It can't have escaped your attention that we are now on the home straight for the release of Windows 10. With just a month to go, there are a few loose ends to tie up with the operating system itself, but there are also areas of the Windows ecosystem that are receiving attention ahead of the launch. One such component is Family Safety, Microsoft's parental control system.

Now renamed to Microsoft Family, the settings can be used to monitor and restrict what younger computer users are able to do on a computer. As well as the change of name, Microsoft Family is now part of Microsoft Account and there has been a bit of a redesign to make it easier to get around.

If you’re a big fan of the Raspberry Pi, as we are, there’s a good chance you might have downloaded The MagPi digital magazine before. This is an official magazine packed with builds, hacks and step-by-step tutorials.

It’s always been very popular (partly due to being free of course), with over 100,000 downloads for issue 31 alone. And now the Raspberry Pi Foundation is going to start printing copies of a bigger and better version of the mag and distributing it in the US and UK, starting from 30 July.

The Quran, sometimes written Koran, is the holy text of the Islamic religion. It literally translates to "the recitation". Most religions have such books to guide their beliefs and provide some foundation for how to proceed in life.

You can read many such works online, and Microsoft is aiding in this with Islam 360, a searchable Quran app. The software giant has talked it up, though it isn't particularly new. Instead Microsoft wants to alert those who aren't aware of its existence and tout the features it brings along.

It's not uncommon for businesses to have multiple access points, whether on a single site or in multiple locations. This can lead to challenges when it comes to managing access and ensuring software and security are up to date.

To make life simpler NETGEAR is launching a software as a service platform called Business Central designed to provide small to mid-sized organizations with an affordable way to establish and manage key IT networking services and network devices.

UnChecky developer RaMMicHaeL has announced the release of Virtuoz, a simple and lightweight virtual desktop utility for Windows.

"It was inspired by Sysinternals Desktops", the author explaines, "but uses a different approach, which doesn’t impose the limitations which Desktops is bound to".

A recent update pushed to Chromecast devices has caused a series of problems for users. One of the most obvious issues is that users who were signed up to the regular, stable update channel found that they had been moved to the beta channel without their permission. Although the problem started to appear a few days ago, Google has been slow to issue a fix.

The update has also caused problems with a number of Chromecast apps including YouTube, Plex, and HBO GO. Not all users have been affected by the issues, and Google insists that only "a small percentage of users" have the issue which is flagged up by a beta/developer string at the bottom of the screen.

After months of testing, Apple revealed earlier this month, at WWDC 2015, that iOS 8.4 will be officially available in late-June, bringing us the new Apple Music streaming service and Beats 1 radio station. While those are the biggest changes, the new version of the popular mobile operating system will also feature a number of under-the-hood tweaks to improve the user experience, as we have come to expect from the most-recent iOS releases.

Quite a few of us expected Apple to launch iOS 8.4 way before the end of the month, but it looks like the company has other plans in mind, as iOS 8.4 is officially set to launch on the very last day of June.

Apple Music has managed to cause quite a storm before it even launches, and Eddy Cue has revealed something that will be music to the ears of subscribers. Writing on Twitter he confirmed that Apple Music subscribers will be able to take advantage of an iTunes Match-like feature that allows tracks to be stored in the cloud.

This in itself is nothing new, but the Apple executive also talked numbers. He explained that while Apple Music would have the same 25,000 as iTunes Match to start with, there are plans to increase this fourfold. The jump to 100,000 songs is penciled in as a feature for iOS 9.

Changes in the payments industry are intrinsically tied to consumer behavior. How people pay, where they pay, and what they pay with, is determined by convenience.

As smartphones increasingly dominate the lives of consumers -- from how they search the internet to how they shop -- it is unsurprising that the next frontiers for payment innovation are widely anticipated to be within mobile commerce (m-commerce).

While we await news of the Surface Pro 4, Microsoft has revealed another model to the Surface Pro 3 lineup. The latest addition is a Core i7 model, bringing the total number of Surface Pro 3s featuring this version of Intel's processor to three.

In all there are now six Surface Pro 3 models to choose from, and the new Core i7 model makes it cheaper to jump into the higher end of the range. While the new model features the same processor and same 8GB of RAM as the very top of the Surface Pro 3 range, storage has been dropped to 128GB to help keep the price down.

Facebook has added security firm Kaspersky Lab to its roster of antivirus companies protecting its users from malicious software, the social media site has announced.

In a blog post by Facebook Security, the company said it is keeping users’ computers safe just by using Facebook, in the way that Kaspersky Lab, together with the likes of ESET, F-Secure and Trend Micro, runs a clean-up tool in the background while you use the social network.

We last looked at the cord-cutting revolution in early 2014 and asked who planned to do so in the coming year. A surprising number of you said you'd already done it. What has happened since then that will make those who haven't switched do so now? A couple of interesting developments have happened in this time.

Before we get to those, we'll pose the question one more time. Will you, or for that matter have you, cut the cord? If you have no plans to, then why? There are obviously many possible answers to these questions and many good reasons both for and against the change in your entertainment options.