It's that time again -- the part of the month where Netflix rolls out its report on ISP performance. This is something that became important back during the Comcast debacle. That was when the streaming service was held hostage while negotiating a deal, all the while with its speed on the carrier steadily dropping.

Well, the top three have not changed and, despite the shakedown, Comcast still is not among them. Verizon FiOS retains its seat at the top, follow by Cablevision and Bright House. Comcast at least hasn't ceded its number four position.

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Amazon usually produces TV pilots before deciding which ones to turn into full series. Unsurprisingly, its union with critically-acclaimed writer/director Woody Allen, won’t be going through this process.

The company has already ordered a full season of the Untitled Woody Allen Project, which will premiere exclusively on Prime Instant Video.

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Apple has a system in place to deal with EU customers who are abusing its new returns policy, which it introduced in late-December to comply with local regulations. What is it? Well, those in question have to agree, upon future purchases, that they will no longer be able to return -- basically, ask refunds for -- digital content, once it is downloaded (or streamed).

Apple allows its EU customers to return digital content -- apps, music, and videos -- within 14 days after purchase, which has been interpreted by many as a green light to unlimited refunds. Mal-intended users could seemingly buy, say, games, enjoy them until right before the returns period ends, then ask for refunds, and repeat the process as they please. Such a policy could, indeed, negatively impact the bottom line of content creators, but it is, however, not the case.

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Apple’s rigorous approvals procedure means it can take quite some time for an app, or app update, to make its way into the App Store. 10-15 days is a typical approval time.

French news agency Nice-Matin created an app which allows users to show their support for controversial French magazine Charlie Hebdo, but was faced with an obvious problem. By the time the app was available in the App Store, support for the 'Je suis Charlie' campaign would have started to dwindle. So the company emailed Apple CEO Tim Cook.

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Site Monitoring is a Java-based tool which provides various ways to monitor websites and their content.

Launch the program and it opens a page in your default browser. The interface is a little basic, but conveniently it comes with a couple of example site checks to help you figure out how everything works.

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Windows 7 is by far and away the most popular operating system, and likely to remain so for many years to come. Windows 8.1 did nothing to dent the older OS’s popularity -- in fact, it helped propel it to even greater heights -- and Windows 10 will have its work cut out to unseat Windows 7 from the top of the pile.

Every Microsoft operating system comes with five years of mainstream support in which the software giant provides security and non-security updates and complimentary online and telephone support, and today, Windows 7 Service Pack 1’s mainstream support comes to an end. So what does that mean for the legions of Windows 7 users?

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Google has released an iOS version of its Chrome Remote Desktop extension.

The new release means you can now remotely access and control your computers from PCs, Macs, Linux, iOS and Android devices, even Chromebooks.

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Last year saw a number of high profile security incidents hit businesses. From attacks on individual companies to bugs like Heartbleed that had the potential to affect large numbers of organizations.

Can we expect more of the same in 2015 or will the threat landscape continue to evolve? We spoke to Mark Bermingham, director of global B2B marketing at Kaspersky Lab, to find out.

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The Internet of Things, while still largely unknown amongst the general public, is expected to make a big impact in 2015. Research by Gartner indicates that the number of connected devices will reach 4.9 billion this year, but not everyone is getting excited about this developing technology.

Last week in fact, the chair of the Federal Trade Commission Edith Ramirez issued a pretty strong warning regarding IoT devices and the threat that they pose to privacy. Countering those who put forward potential IoT benefits, Ms Ramirez argued that the "deeply personal" information gathered by connected devices has the potential to be seriously invasive. "I question the notion that we must put sensitive consumer data at risk on the off-chance a company might someday discover a valuable use for the information", she said. However, is Ms Ramirez merely scaremongering, or should consumers really be worried about the predicted explosion in IoT products?

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This was supposed to be time for my technology predictions for 2015, which I’ll get to yet, I promise, but first I want to explain the major trend I see, that 2015 will become known as The Year When Nothing Happened. Of course things will happen in 2015, but I think the year of truly revolutionary change will be 2016, not 2015. It takes time for trends to develop and revolutionary products to hit the market. I’d say the trends are clear, it’s the products and their manufacturers who aren’t yet identifiable.

So here are three areas where I’ll disagree with most of my peers and say I don’t expect to see much visible progress in 2015.

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I'm a Ford man through and through -- I only buy cars from that manufacturer. Why? I like the quality of its vehicles and the history behind the brand. Most importantly, however, I love American-made cars. Don't get me wrong, I buy other products made in foreign countries, but automobiles are woven into the fabric of United States culture. It makes me feel good to know that my car is manufactured here, by a company headquartered here. Heck, if I won the lottery tomorrow, I will buy a nice F-150; not some fancy-pants Mercedes or Audi.

Speaking of fancy cars though, today, Ford debuted a beauty at the North American International Auto Show -- the Ford GT. It's about the sexiest car I've ever seen, and the blue Ford oval on the front makes me very proud. With that said, the car is making a jump to the virtual world, as Microsoft and Turn 10 Studios announce that the GT is coming to Forza Motorsport 6 -- an Xbox One exclusive. In fact, the car will be featured prominently on the game box cover art.

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Whenever I see contests and sweepstakes, I am usually dubious. Why? I just don't see the fun in a random drawing. Sure, winning a prize is fun, but if you win it for doing nothing other than signing up, where is the sport? I prefer a contest where the winner earns a prize.

Today, Microsoft announces a rather sweet contest aimed at developers (developers, developers...). Well, not just any developers, but game developers in particular. If you can create a really great Windows game, the company may fly you to the 2015 Game Developer Conference.

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Mozilla has released Firefox 35.0 FINAL for desktop, with Firefox for Android 35.0 due to follow in the coming days.

Firefox 35 extends the Firefox Hello real-time communication client tool with a new rooms-based conversations model, plus adds more features to the new search user interface along with improved preferences. Android users gain improved geolocation tools.

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US Central Command's Twitter account appears to have been hacked by CyberCaliphate, a hacker group claiming association with ISIS.

The Twitter feed has since been taken down, but posted messages included "AMERICAN SOLDIERS, WE ARE COMING, WATCH YOUR BACK. ISIS. #CyberCaliphate", "Pentagon Networks Hacked! China Scenarios", and "Pentagon Networks Hacked. Korean Scenarios". These last two posts came with military maps and information relating to the countries in question.

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The other day I wrote about hacker collective Anonymous, covering its war on Lizard Squad and its vow to now go after terrorists. This isn't the slippery slope that some may think it is. The group isn't attacking Islam, it is targeting the extremists responsible for the murders of people. That clarification makes it hard to not be behind them. After all, entire governments have been doing this in a less technological way.

Those promised threats are now no longer just promises. Anonymous has taken down its first target -- ansar-alhaqq.net (we aren't linking to them), rendering the site, which was deemed a terrorist hive back in 2013, completely inaccessible. Reaching the site is now impossible as the DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) targeting of it is well underway.

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