BitTorrent users more likely to pay for content, according to survey
One of the arguments often put forward in favor of online piracy is that those who illegally download content are more likely to purchase that content at a later date. Well now BitTorrent has some figures to back-up that assertion.
Following a survey of 2,500 of its users, the peer-to-peer network found that file-sharers are more engaged than the average consumer.
CryptoLocker: the comeback -- malware reemerges ready to steal your money
CryptoLocker has now been around the block a few times -- it's been locking people's data and demanding money for sometime. The threat finally (mostly) disappeared. However, it seems to be experiencing a resurgence, as a new strain of the virus has been detected.
If you aren't familiar, and honestly, you don't want to be, CryptoLocker encrypts the files on your computer and then holds you for ransom -- pay or lose your data.
Batch rename your photos with Exif ReName
Everyone has their own idea of how digital photos should be named. This might change from time to time, cameras usually produce something entirely different, and the end result can be a hard-to-browse tangle of mismatched images.
It's a familiar story, but the open source Exif ReName tries to restore order by renaming and sorting your pictures based on the date and time they were taken.
Thousands of WordPress, Joomla and Drupal sites threatened by CryptoPHP backdoor
A large proportion of websites are built on a CMS rather than raw HTML. Three of the most common are WordPress, Joomla and Drupal, and security researchers at Fox-It warn that site administrators are at risk of being socially engineered into installing the CryptoPHP backdoor on their server.
Distributed through pirated themes and plugins, CryptoPHP's spread is thanks to the light-fingeredness of site admins. It was first detected in 2013 and is still actively spreading. The capabilities of the "well developed" backdoor include remote control of an infected server, and Blackhat SEO -- a form of illegal search engine optimization.
ASRock announces X99 WS-E/10G motherboard with Dual Intel 10G BASE-T LAN ports
When it comes to computer hardware, it can be very difficult for a manufacturer to differentiate its product from its competitor's offerings. Some companies go the superficial route -- adding fancy lights and colors as a distraction to the overall normalcy. Others will invent proprietary naming conventions for its features, making it seem unique when it really isn't. Both of these approaches are rather lame, but believe it or not, consumers fall for it.
Me? I prefer to see actual unique features and exceptional performance. Sure, truly innovative and impressive hardware can come with a high price, but so does a Lamborghini -- you can like something without buying it right? Yup, you can; often times you don't really need the features, but they are cool nonetheless. Today, ASRock announces one of the most unique and impressive motherboards that I have seen in some time. How so, you ask? The X99 WS-E/10G board features Dual Intel 10G BASE-T LAN ports! Very cool, but do consumers really need it?
3 billion people will be online by 2015
More than three billion people will have Internet access by next year, according to a new study.
Estimates by eMarketer indicate that 42.4 percent of the global population will be online in 2015, an increase of 6.2 percent compared with this year.
For Thanksgiving dinner, Bing will teach you to cook -- Google prefers eating out
Thanksgiving is probably my favorite holiday. Not only is it a great day to reflect on what I am thankful for, but it allows me to overeat in a socially acceptable way. When I am gorging on food the other 364 days, I'll get dirty looks; not so on Thanksgiving! Turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes -- mmm mmm mmm, I can taste it already.
If you haven't made plans for the holiday yet, do not worry; both Bing and Google are aiming to help you out. The competing search engines, however, are taking polar approaches as to how to eat. Bing will help you find recipes, while Google will help you with eating-out.
Wireless connectivity is enhancing SMBs in unexpected ways
Three-quarters of small and medium-sized firms say that having a reliable wireless network in place is now essential for business success.
It doesn’t matter if the company has two, twenty or two hundred employees, all agree that a wireless network keeps employees connected wherever they are on site, and that this boosts productivity, strengthens competitiveness and enhances customer service.
Block webcam hijacking with WebCam On-Off
Webcam hijacking has been around for a long time, but recent stories about websites streaming live footage from thousands of hacked webcams have placed it firmly back in the headlines.
Fully protecting your own webcam requires tough security measures. A quality antivirus engine, smart firewall, strong passwords.
Evernote for Mac 6 gets Yosemite-inspired redesign, Work Chat feature unveiled across all major platforms
Evernote Corporation has released major updates across its four biggest platforms with Evernote for Mac 6.0, Evernote for Windows 5.7.2, Evernote for iOS 7.6.2 and Evernote for Android 6.2.
All four platforms roll out a new collaborative feature named Work Chat, while Evernote for Mac 6 also unveils a new Yosemite-friendly redesign. Evernote Premium users also gain a new business card scanning feature in Evernote for Android.
XBMC moves forward with name change as new logo is chosen
XBMC, whose name was derived from Xbox and Media Center, is making a change that you may have heard about. Or at least you have if you delve into the HTPC world. The platform will soon be officially known as Kodi, distancing itself from Microsoft, though it continues to work on the company's products, just as it always has.
To go along with this fresh new face, a new logo was also in order. For that, the organization reached out to its community. The result was an amalgam of the feedback received during the process.
Google's removal of homophobic 'gay hunting' game was far, far too slow
This morning there was flurry of activity on Twitter as people became aware of the existence of a game called Ass Hunter on Google Play (link included for the sake of completion, although it's no longer active). There were snorts of indignation, incredulous shakes of virtual heads, and numerous cries for Google to pull the app without delay.
This has now been done. The game, which described itself as a "popular game on hunting gays", encouraged people to "play and do not be gay" is not new. The Android game is (or was) a port of a title that dates back almost a decade, and its appearance in the Play store highlights an important difference between Google's and Apple's app stores -- the vetting processes involved.
Corporate PC demand will last
The health of the PC market has been a topic of debate as spending shifts towards tablets and smartphones. This shift is readily evident in the consumer market, but the enterprise market paints a completely different picture. PCs still rule within the walls of business and will likely continue for a while.
Why has the corporate PC been spared from this down cycle? First and foremost, we are in the midst of a business-centric refresh cycle. The factor that has received the most attention when attempting to explain this new growth is Microsoft’s end-of-life (EOL) support for Windows XP in the spring of 2014. This hard deadline served as a wakeup call for many companies who, by mid-2013, started to upgrade their PC fleet. There is quite a bit of additional data, however, that suggests the EOL of Microsoft XP is only one of several factors driving a corporate PC refresh, and that this bounce may have legs once the Windows XP refresh has run its course.
E-cigarettes can damage your PC's health
Using e-cigarettes, or vaping, is widely touted as being healthier for you than smoking tobacco, however, it may not be so healthy for your PC.
Many e-cigarettes offer a USB charging option but a story on social news site Reddit suggests that this is a potential source of malware attack. An executive's PC became infected after he'd recently given up smoking and the infection was traced to his e-cigarette charger.
Slow devices are causing billions of lost hours a year
I’m pretty impatient when it comes to technology and I’ve often wondered just how much of my time is being wasted while I’m waiting for something to load, or download, or for tasks to complete. Memory expert Crucial.com has done a spot of surveying and discovered that slow tech is responsible for wasting billions of hours every year.
The company surveyed 1,148 Brits, aged 16-65, and found the average person wastes over 39 hours each year (or 6.5 minutes a day) waiting for slow technology to complete everyday tasks. It also found some people wasted as many as 121 hours a year. For the whole of the UK, this equates to a whopping 2.1 billion hours of wasted time per annum.
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