The hacking of Sony Pictures was quite a revelation. It led not only to the leaking of several yet-to-be released movies, but also the private details of many employees. A cache of documents and information was made available, and as time goes by we get more chance to sift through what's there. The latest revelation comes from TorrentFreak which reports about the Sony Pictures' plans to thwart piracy of its TV shows.

The company's AXN TV network was apparently toying with the idea of using honey traps to trick pirates into downloading fake torrents of popular shows such as Hannibal. The plan was not to just prevent downloaders from getting hold of the videos they were looking for, but also to use torrent sites as a means of free advertising.

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Bing has been unceremoniously dumped by Facebook. The social network had been using the Microsoft search tool to power its Graph Search platform for some time now, but no longer. While no announcement has been made, Facebook confirmed the news to Reuters.

The lack of official announcement meant that the dropping of Bing was immediately noticed. Facebook does not have a replacement partner in mind -- there is no danger of the social network teaming up with Google -- but will go it alone instead.

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Utilities developer Anvisoft has released a free version of its browser security tool, Anvi Slim Toolbar.

The program provides real-time and on-demand tools to detect and remove malicious add-ons for Internet Explorer, Firefox and Chrome.

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Plex is perhaps the most well known media server among home theater and HTPC enthusiasts. Both a server and end-user app are provided, the former for free, while the latter will set you back a nominal fee. However, it's well worth the time to set up and few dollars out of your pocket.

Now the service is improving on it's offering to Google's mobile platform. Plex for Android has just gained Playlists, making things just a bit easier for its multitude of customers.

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Google has unveiled Google 5.0 for iOS, a new release of its search tool for iPhone and iPad.

Version 5, which incorporates functionality from Google Now, has been rebuilt from the ground up to add a number of new features, plus show off a new look and feel that’s been designed around the new iPhone 6 product family.

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In the grand scheme of things, we aren't far removed from a time when most people thought the Earth was flat. Yes, we went from thinking a boat could sail off of the edge of the world, to landing a spacecraft on a comet -- crazy, right?

When Google Earth was first released, it was a mind-boggling program. It allowed users to easily navigate a virtual Earth; a high-tech globe, if you will. While people take it for granted, the search-giant's offering remains wonderful. Unfortunately for developers, Google is killing the Earth API.

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If you're looking for a new way to hand your money over to Apple, you're in luck. It's been a long time coming, but Apple now accepts PayPal payment in both the US and the UK online stores. Accepting this method of online payment is something that customers have wanted for some time, but Apple has previously been reluctant to embrace PayPal.

In fact, PayPal was only recently given the cold shoulder by Apple. The company was ignored when Apple Pay was introduced earlier in the year. It seems that relations between the two companies have improved -- there is money to be made, after all.

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YouTube is a great source of entertainment, but don't you wish that sometimes people would just cut to the chase? There are plenty of videos of epic length, often comprising a massive build up to a short punchline. Why not cut the crap and get to the point?

One way to do this when re-sharing YouTube videos is to convert the interesting portion into an animated GIF, saving viewers time and bandwidth. YouTube itself is getting in on the web's rekindled interest in animated GIFs. A new beta program has been opened up that lets YouTube users transform lengthy videos into snapper clips of up to six seconds in length.

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A company's brand is something very important. Quite frankly, once a brand is blemished or diluted, it can be very hard to recover. If a restaurant has a food-poisoning incident, foodies are not quick to forget. Dilution though, is a bigger issue, as brands often lose focus on their DNA. What do I mean by this? A good example is Polaroid. The brand used to be synonymous with photography, but now, after a series of business calamities, the name brand is essentially rented out to the highest bidder. The result is you see low-end televisions and tablets with the name Polaroid, and the brand is diluted and cheapened.

True, there is nothing wrong with a company looking to expand its offerings, as long as it stays true to the brand image. Today, PC-gaming hardware manufacturer Razer announces a slight diversion from its typical brand focus, with a new studio-grade microphone, called the Seirēn. Can it be used for gaming? Sure, I suppose so, but it is not designed for it. Instead the focus is on music recording and audio streaming. The question for me is, why?

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Google wants to get all of the platforms updated to Material Design -- the new design language first previewed at Google I/O this year.

Android Wear has been waiting for the Lollipop update for quite some time, after Nexus, Google Play Edition and some OEM (original equipment manufacturers) gained early updates to the new OS update.

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Windows Calculator has improved a great deal in recent years. It still opens in a very basic "standard" view, but you also get Scientific, Programmer and Statistics modes, along with unit conversions, date calculations and more.

The free HiPER Calc Scientific seems a little basic by comparison, as it’s "just" a regular scientific calculator. But it’s compact, portable, and has more than enough functions and features to make it interesting.

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Two Raspberry Pi computers are going to be sent into space as part of a competition to get children inspired by coding and space exploration.

The Astro Pi project will take place from the middle of January and will see the devices sent to the International Space Station (ISS), containing code written by primary and secondary school children.

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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.

Microsoft sent out invites yesterday for an event in January where it will talk about the next chapter of the Windows 10 operating system. Check out Wayne's post for information on the event.

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It happens all the time. You’re browsing a website, engrossed in the content, when suddenly an overlay appears and blocks your view. Annoying, even when it’s displaying useful information.

Usually clicking the "x" close button will get rid of the popup, and you can carry on as you were. But if there is no "x", or it’s been carefully hidden, then you might need a little help.

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Google Cardboard, when compared to big virtual reality names like the Oculus Rift and Sony’s Project Morpheus, might seem like a bad joke. The tech giant, however, is prepared to show the world it’s serious about its cardboard-based headset.

The company has launched a new web page for the low-cost VR, one which collects the best apps for download as well as showcases new SDKs for Android and Unity devs to play around with.

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