Latest Technology News

Although Microsoft released a new build of the Windows 10 Technical Preview earlier in the week, it only made it available to Windows Insiders on the Fast ring, and through Windows Update. It’s not officially available as an ISO image yet (Microsoft currently only offers downloads for Build 9926).

However, it is possible to grab an ISO of the new build through unofficial channels.

Before Apple begins to sell its Watch in April, rival smartwatch and activity tracking device makers are trying to use the remaining days to remind you about their wearable gadgets. Google earlier this week posted an extended trailer of its Android Wear wearable operating system, and now Microsoft is taking its turn on the podium to talk about its fitness tracker Band. The company is running two enticing deals to lure in users to test drive the Microsoft Band.

Microsoft is so keen to see you try the Band that the company is giving away $5 Starbucks cards to anyone in the United States who bothers to visit the Microsoft Store and checks out the Band. That’s it -- you aren't obligated to purchase the tracker. In addition, the Redmond, Washington-based company is also running a contest valid until March 22nd, wherein users from the US can participate and stand a chance to win $200. You can visit the Store here for more info and to participate.

NirSoft has updated TCPLogView 1.15 and TCPLogView (64-bit) 1.15 to automatically log TCP connections as they're opened and closed on Windows 2000-8.

Details recorded include the event type (Open, Close, Listen), time, local and remote addresses, local and remote ports, and the initiating process name and ID.

For many of us, connecting to the Internet is life. While technically not as important as drinking water or breathing oxygen, being connected can feel that way sometimes. It is for this reason that I am often perplexed that people choose to skimp on their router. Look, I like a good deal just as much as the next guy, but why wouldn't you go for the best you can get when it comes to something you do every day, such as connect the Internet? Is it really worth saving $20 if your connection is constantly dropping?

For the past year or so, I have been enjoying Apple's Airport Extreme router, and for the most part, it has been a success. Unfortunately, it has some negatives. Lately, the 5GHz band has become flaky, causing me to disconnect and reconnect; a pain in the butt to the say the least. The biggest deal-breaker? It requires an Apple device or Windows computer to manage. Unlike most routers that can be accessed though a web browser, Apple requires a special program. As a Linux user, this meant not having the ability to change router settings without booting into Windows or grabbing my iPad. To solve this dilemma, I swapped it for the 802.11AC Netgear AC2350 Nighthawk X4 Smart WiFi Router. Did it outperform Apple's Airport Extreme?

This week Google announced its move into the car industry with Android Auto. The company describes it as "designed with safety in mind". The interface aims to be simple, controls will be present right on the steering wheel, everything can be launched by voice and Google Maps will guide the way.

A number of automobile makers are on board, including Ford, Subaru, Chrysler and many more. Now it's up to app makers to round things out and TuneIn Radio is among the early adopters racing to the platform.

Two minutes is all it takes to completely destroy a computer. In a presentation entitled "How many million BIOSes would you like to infect?" at security conference CanSecWest, security researchers Corey Kallenberg and Xeno Kovah revealed that even an unskilled person could use an implant called LightEater to infect a vulnerable system in mere moments.

The attack could be used to render a computer unusable, but it could also be used to steal passwords and intercept encrypted data. The problem affects motherboards from companies including Gigabyte, Acer, MSI, HP and Asus. It is exacerbated by manufactures reusing codes across multiple UEFI BIOSes and places home users, businesses and governments at risk.

With the launch of MTV in the 1980s, music and video became forever linked. In recent years, the name MTV, or Music TV, became quite the misnomer, as the channel ditched the music videos that made it popular, embracing original programming instead. The music video did not die, however, it just moved to the web instead. Yes, music videos on YouTube are wildly popular, seeing billions of views.

Today, Google invites you to the 2015 YouTube Music Awards. No, you aren't invited to the actual event, but you can watch it live online. Will you tune in?

When I first pondered leaving Windows Phone behind, I imagined it would be for an Android flagship. It made sense. Android is, after all, much more permissive, has way more apps, and is available in a larger variety of smartphone flavors. And Google is committed to improving the operating system, launching at least one major update a year. Also, I use a Google Nexus 7 as my every day tablet; an Android smartphone would be a perfect fit. But things change.

Apple finally came up with bigger iPhones last year, and the prospect of ditching Windows Phone for a new iPhone suddenly became irresistible. It didn't hurt that iOS 8 dropped some of the annoying restrictions of its predecessors. Ultimately, I ended up with an iPhone 6 Plus. And, after two years of Windows Phones, using Apple's phablet as my daily driver can only be described as liberating.

In the hours running up to the big Apple show, Google attempted to rain on the Apple Watch parade by pushing its own wearable platform with a new ad. We already knew about the technology, but the cheeky move got the attention of many people. It was nothing more, nor less, than a smart business decision.

However, what we saw that day was only part of a longer format video which the search giant has just released on YouTube (naturally). It's still only one minute long, but that's a virtual lifetime compared to the original 18 second clip.

Microsoft’s HoloLens, and the Google-backed Magic Leap might be touted as the future of augmented reality wearables, but electronics giant Epson has beaten both firms to the punch. Its own AR smart glasses are already on the market and finding an appreciative audience among gamers, movie watchers, businesses, and even the registered blind.

I spoke with Valerie Riffaud-Cangelosi. Epson’s New Market Development Manager, about the Japanese firm’s venture into augmented reality, and its plans for the future.

Tools like Plotagon are a fun way to create simple 3D videos, but as we saw yesterday, they’re a little limited. Okay, make that very limited.

If you’d like to try 3D modeling for real then the open source Java-based Art of Illusion provides much more scope for getting creative.

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

Big news this week was the release of Windows 10 Build 10041 which fine-tuned several features of Microsoft's upcoming operating system but did not ship with major changes.

Malwarebytes has shipped Malwarebytes Anti-Malware 2.1.4, a significant update for its popular malware hunter.

The interface has been revamped for a cleaner look with a "toned-down" color scheme. The changes aren't too drastic -- you’ll find your way around easily enough --  and on balance the UI worked well for us.

In its five years of existence, Windows Phone (formerly known as Windows Mobile) has managed to garner only 3 percent mobile market share. Microsoft's tiled operating system is still struggling to give Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS a serious challenge. But if you thought the Redmond-based company should be looking for an exit strategy by now, you will be surprised with what Microsoft has in mind.

Over the last few months, we learned that Microsoft is increasingly concerned about closing the Windows Phone’s infamous "app gap" problem. Referred to as the Plan A, as per a report by Mary Jo Foley, Microsoft intends to do this by introducing support for universal apps which will allow developers to quickly turn their Windows applications into Windows Phone apps with minimal effort.

The first day of Spring is upon us, and Google celebrates with free offers to anyone buying Chromecast from today through April 19. The freebies arrive as Apple tries to whip up sales of its streaming set-top box by exclusively offering HBO NOW starting April 10. Apple TV sells for $69, but Chromecast for $35—and Google's goody box is valued at $80.

To 3 free months of Play Music and DramaFever add: One free Play Movies rental, 1 month free Qello Concerts, and 3 months free Sesame Street GO. You can find the offers here. These are for the U.S. market, and the goodies may not be the same in each of the 16 countries where Google offers any.