Latest Technology News

To be first in line to download a new app, you need to be quick off the mark. You might hear about a game or app weeks ahead of launch, and it's all too easy to miss the launch date. You might be wondering why it has taken Google so long to do something about it.

For Android users this is now a thing of the past thanks to the introduction of pre-registration. The first title in Google Play to offer this is Terminator Genisys: Revolution. You can now register your interest in the game and you'll be notified when it is released and is ready for download.

Image Uploader is a free Windows application which uploads your chosen selected files (not just images, despite the name) to any of 50+ image or file hosting sites: Flickr, Imageshack, Imgur, Picasa, Twitpic, Dropbox, Google Drive, SendSpace and generic FTP servers, amongst many others.

Getting started is easy. Once you’ve set up a default service, you can upload files or folders by dragging and dropping them onto the program window, or right-clicking them in Explorer and selecting Image Uploader > Upload…

There have been numerous instances in the past where anti-virus companies have been accused -- and in many cases caught -- of creating malware their products combat. We’re learning of yet another similar case. A former employee of cybersecurity firm Tiversa is accusing the company of fraud.

Richard Wallace, one of the former investigators at the firm has testified against the firm in a Washington DC courtroom. Wallace says that Tiversa employees would hack their potential clients to force them to buy services from the firm.

Raspberry Pi, a credit card-sized computer carrying a dirt cheap price tag has become insanely popular in the last couple of years. But what if we told you that there is a similar computer that sports miniature form factor and costs even less? Meet CHIP, a $9 single-board computer that is capable of running light Linux-based distros.

As for the specifications, CHIP packs in a 1GHz processor coupled with 512MB RAM, and 4GB of internal storage. The board comes with optional ports for VGA and HDMI, and supports Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity options. The variant with VGA port costs $19 while the HDMI capable CHIP will set you back by $24 bucks.

The Tor browser is used by many to stay anonymous online -- and it's something that has been embraced by the likes of WikiLeaks as a way to safely gather information whilst hopefully avoiding the surveillance of the NSA. One lesser known project from the same stables is the Tor Cloud service, and Tor has announced that it is closing down.

Based on the Amazon EC2 cloud computing platform, Tor Cloud provided a way to share computing resources and allow faster uncensored access to the internet. However, the project is plagued with "at least one major bug ... that makes it completely dysfunctional" and after failing to find anyone to undertake the work, the decision was taken to shutter Tor Cloud. This does not mean that Tor itself is dead -- far from it -- and developers are being encouraged to create their own forked versions of Tor Cloud.

Vatican wants to save the human history in a digital form, and the best way to do so is to use open-source, non-proprietary software that will still be easily accessible and usable in 50 years, it says.

During the EMC World conference in Las Vegas, Vatican Library CIO Luciano Ammenti argued his case. A total of 82,000 manuscripts were digitized, as there was never enough room in the reading rooms.

There are lots of Bluetooth speakers on the market, so which one you choose really comes down to the features you value most. Is sound quality your top priority or is portability and long battery life a bigger attraction?

The EasyAcc DP100 certainly qualifies on the portability front. It's a compact design, about the size of a Coke can, feels nicely weighty and has a rubber base so it won't slip around. The design is quite stylish in matt black with a shiny highlight around the top. There's an on/off switch and sockets for charging and aux-in at the back. Playback controls are operated by a grey, rubbery button on the top, this works well enough but doesn’t have a particularly nice feel.

Indian mobile manufacturer Micromax and Chinese smartphone manufacturer OnePlus have withdrawn their respective lawsuits against each other. As a result of this the flagship One smartphone will now resume the impending over the air update from Cyanogen Inc.

OnePlus announces that both the companies withdrew their respective lawsuits against each other through mutual consent. In a statement to BetaNews, OnePlus says that it will be working with Cyanogen to ensure that the OnePlus One Indian variant continues to receive updates from the software firm. These updates also include the next in line to CM 12S software version.

When you install an app on iOS it will ask for permissions as and when required. In Android things are done differently, and you’re informed about what permissions are required from the off. This can be rather disconcerting, as some of the permissions requested can seem both scary, and unnecessary.

Usually, there’s a good reason why an app needs the permissions it does, although it may not always be obvious, and it’s all or nothing. If you don’t agree with the list of permissions the only option is not to install the app. You can’t simply block or revoke individual permissions, at least not without rooting your device first. However, that may be about to change soon.

As someone who is always excited to try out a new version of Windows, learning that Windows 10 will be the last time I get to experience a new release of the popular operating system, with everything it entails, is disconcerting. Is this an alternate reality that we are living in?

The news comes from Microsoft developer evangelist Jerry Nixon, who, at the software giant's Ignite conference earlier this week, said the following: "Right now we're releasing Windows 10, and because Windows 10 is the last version of Windows, we're all still working on Windows 10". And, yes, it is the end of Windows as we all know it.

Most security researchers now acknowledge that it is only a matter of time before a business suffers some form of compromise as the bad guys follow the money and conventional security tools struggle to keep pace. A recent report from Gartner stresses the need for apps to become self protecting rather than rely on security tools.

But how easy is it to produce a self-protecting app and how effective are they against malware? We spoke to Gordon Young, UK Sales Director of security specialist Promon to find out more.

As with many aspects of finance, the budget is a balancing act. The same can be said of the financial period-end close at many companies. It's a process that's full of compromises. But does it have to be that way?

Many politicians use dramatic financial compromises to drive public relations initiatives. This is certainly not the case for corporate finance leaders; they rarely openly discuss any financial compromises. However, corporate finance leaders do accept the grim reality that compromises have to be made -- or at least many think there is no other option. It’s not uncommon for accounting and finance professionals to spend hours passing emails, spreadsheets and explanations back and forth in order to keep the close moving along.

When Windows 10 was first announced, everyone immediately had one burning question to ask Microsoft concerning the freshly rejigged OS. And that question was: "Uhh, what the hell happened to Windows 9?"

Windows 8 followed sequentially on from Windows 7, but somehow, Windows 9 got skipped -- and it seems that’s something Redmond isn’t afraid to joke about, via Joe Belfiore’s and other Microsoft staff members' T-shirts.

One-hundred and twenty nine in a series. Welcome to this week's overview of the best apps and games released for Windows in the past seven days.

Microsoft announced this week that Windows 10 will launch this summer for PCs only and that Windows 10 on other devices will be released later.

Popular Mac cloud backup app Arq ($39.99) is now available on Windows 7 and later.

The program makes it easy to back up your chosen folders to Dropbox, OneDrive, Google Drive/ Nearline, Amazon S3 and Glacier.