Latest Technology News

This holiday shopping season, 4K televisions are all the rage. With that said, buying a 4K TV is arguably silly, as there is not much content, and prices will only go down. Sure, if you need a TV, it might make sense from a future-proofing perspective, but replacing a perfectly good 1080p set is probably wasteful. Currently, the best case for 4K technology is computer monitors, where the ultra-high resolution can be put to immediate use.

Of course, 4K content will be growing more and more in 2015, and DirecTV is aiming to be on the forefront of the Ultra HD game. You see, the television provider has fired a satellite into space to bolster its future 4K capability. In other words, we may soon get to see "Crazy Hairy Rob Lowe" in 4K.

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Usually it's the big guys, or at least national and international organizations, that stand up to fight against the government. But on Monday, a nurse from Idaho will continue to fight the case she brought against Barack Obama and government intelligence agencies. Anna Smith says her Fourth Amendment rights were violated when the NSA collected data about her from phone records.

A district court ruled against Smith when she first started to fight the case, but now she has the backing of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the American Civil Liberties Union of Idaho.

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Amnesty International hit out at a court ruling that found communication surveillance carried out by UK secret services did not breach human rights. Amnesty UK and Privacy International brought the case to court following revelations by Edward Snowden that showed GCHQ (UK secret services) and the NSA had been spying on people by monitoring their correspondence.

But a panel of judges found that the actions of GCHQ do not contravene the European Convention of Human Rights. Amnesty said the result was "disappointing if unsurprising" and indicated that it will appeal at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

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Microsoft has released Skype for Windows 7.0, unveiling a major redesign of its Skype desktop client in the process. Many of the new features debuted in a Preview pre-release that coincided with the release of Skype for Mac 7 back in October.

The final release adds several new features not present in the original preview build, including two new compact view options and support for touchscreen displays.

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The number of people watching television is continuing to plummet as many migrate towards online streaming.

The latest report by Nielsen suggests that traditional content providers are being heavily impacted by new, more consumer-centric services.

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3D movies might not be as popular (or ubiquitous) as they were a few years ago, but people still enjoy viewing media with a degree of depth. The massive success of the Nintendo 3DS is testament to this.

If you own an Apple iPhone, and want to view images or video in 3D (without having to wear special glasses), you now can thanks to EyeFly3D Nanoglass. This is a screen protector that you attach to your iPhone and which delivers a convincing 3D effect.

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There is little doubt that Spain is a beautiful country, with cities like Madrid and Barcelona, along with many lesser known jewels. However getting there is not always allowed by your schedule, or perhaps even your budget. No need to fear.

Google has sent its intrepid team of explorers to the nation and they managed to snag images of 50 locations around the country. "The Iberian Peninsula has a rich and varied artistic, architectural and cultural legacy. Roman remains, Al-Andalus, Gothic splendor and 19th century Catalan modernism are just a few examples of what you might see travelling around Spain’s cities and countryside. And starting today, people all over the world will be able to explore 50 new iconic locations in Spain with Street View on Google Maps", says Amita Khattri, Street View Program Manager.

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Famatech has announced the yearly update for its network detection tool, Advanced IP Scanner 2.4.

The program now uncovers more details about all network devices, including device type (router, printer, more) and the operating system of remote computers.

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The latest monthly report from internet security specialist Doctor Web shows that whilst Windows and Android users have no cause for complacency, November saw substantial numbers of malicious programs aimed at Mac OS X and Linux platforms.

Trojans remain the most popular form of attack making up 8.7 percent of all malware detected. Trojan.InstallCore.12, which installs different adware, toolbars and browser extensions, ranks first. BackDoor.Andromeda.404, which downloads other malicious programs into an infected system when commanded to do so by intruders, ranks second.

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Chances are your iPhone is already loaded with numerous popular applications like Skype, WhatsApp, Angry Birds and Facebook. Although these are great, there are tons of exciting apps available, if you dig a little bit deeper. You can totally transform your smartphone for a few dollars or even for free.

In this article we will go through 15 of the best iPhone apps you’re not using yet.

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I'm a big proponent of smartwatches, but it wasn't always this way. At first, I thought the concept was stupid; after all, it duplicates existing smartphone functionality. When I finally tried one, the Samsung Gear Live running Android Wear, I became hooked. Sure, it is not a need-based product, but instead, convenience-based.

Unfortunately, while Android Wear is useful, it is also a bit limited in its functionality. Luckily, third-party developers can add apps, and believe it or not, an unlikely developer, Microsoft, had delivered one of the best -- Torque. Today, the company releases version 2.0 of that app, and not only does it further improve the Android Wear platform, but it can now be used with Android smartphones too.

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Since its beta introduction to the US in the spring of this year Windows Phone 8.1's personal assistant tool Cortana has generated lots of interest.

It became available in the UK and China over the summer but now it's moving into the rest of Europe with native language versions for France, Germany, Italy and Spain.

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One-hundred and nine in a series. Welcome to this week's overview of the best apps and games released for Windows 8 in the last seven days.

Several great games have been released this week and unfortunately only one app worth of note. This week's best release is Sonic Dash, a game made by Sega featuring the company's iconic mascot.

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Anyone buying a new PC or laptop today should get it with an SSD, or replace the HDD with one immediately after. The performance difference is huge, most noticeable in terms of responsiveness, software launch times, booting, loading information, but also when it comes to transferring files internally. An SSD will make any new device feel extremely fast, even if it is among the least-expensive PCs or laptops on the market.

Swapping the HDD with an SSD is the best thing one can do to increase performance, dramatically, also for an older PC or laptop, where the performance difference will be even more dramatic. A six-year old HP laptop that I have feels every bit as fast as any modern equivalent, in day to day use, thanks to an SSD upgrade I performed two years ago. However, there is a catch with using SSDs and that is their seemingly short lifespan. Very old SSDs are expected to not last as long as HDDs, the latter of which benefit from a more mature technology. So how do newer SSDs -- the ones that you are most likely to find and buy today -- fare?

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If you’ve tried a few Notepad replacements you’ll know they typically look and feel very similar. There are the core Notepad functions for quick and easy text editing, an expanded interface (tabbed, drag and drop editing) to make life easier, and any menus and dialogs are then expanded with useful extras.

The free-for-personal-use jane (Just Another Nasty Editor) takes a very different approach, ignoring many standards to go its own way. This can be frustrating, and it’s certainly not for everyone, but the program does also have some interesting features to explore.

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