Latest Technology News

Two weeks ago Mozilla announced that it would be jettisoning Google as the default search option in Firefox, opting instead to go for Yahoo, the search engine that most right-thinking people stopped using, and caring about, years ago (at least Mozilla didn’t select Ask.com).

Firefox 34 launched at the start of the month, with Yahoo as the default choice for US users, and instantly the newly selected search engine saw a massive increase in usage.

The holiday season is probably the worst time to discover that due payments are going to be late, but that's exactly the position independent Xbox game developers find themselves in. Developers awaiting payments for Xbox Live Indie Games on Xbox 360 (Xbox One is not affected) have been told that a problem with Microsoft's payment system has delayed payments to "select developers".

The apology was issued via the ID@Xbox Twitter account late last night, and there are already numerous replies from disgruntled developers. It's not clear exactly what the problem is or why only the Xbox 360 platform has been affected, but these details are of little concern to developers just looking to get paid.

Most consumers who buy one of Apple's latest smartphones end up with the smaller model. In fact, iPhone 6 is outselling its bigger brother, iPhone 6 Plus, by a ratio of three to one in US, and an even higher ratio of four to one in Britain. However, Apple shouldn't be worried that its first phablet is nowhere near as popular as the "standard" iPhone 6.

That is because iPhone 6 Plus is actually a hugely popular device in its category, accounting for 41 percent of phablet sales in US in the three months ending October 2014, despite being on sale only from mid-September onwards. What does that mean in the grand scheme of things?

You know how a slice of bread always falls on the buttered side? Or how a cat, when dropped onto its back, always somehow manages to turn around mid-air and land on its feet?

Well, basically, Apple has been awarded a patent that does just that -- makes sure its products, when dropped, land exactly how they want them to land. Of course, this desired landing will be one that is the least likely to damage crucial components.

Samsung is not as fast as rival makers HTC or Motorola when it comes to rolling out software upgrades to the latest version of Android, but the company appears to be finally cleaning up its act. Not too long after Google released Android 5.0, Lollipop is now available for Galaxy S5.

The epicenter for the Android 5.0 Lollipop roll-out is Poland, a market Samsung has frequently used to commence roll-outs of new major software upgrades. The company is currently targeting users of the SM-G900F version of Galaxy S5, which, as some of you may know, is the model featuring a Qualcomm processor (Snapdragon 801).

So which country boasts the most skilled hackers? Well, that would be Russia and China, at least according to a new report from MWR InfoSecurity.

In a survey of UK cyber-security pros, MWR found that 34 percent believed the most skilled hackers are Russian. China was second, although quite some distance behind Russia with 18 percent saying Chinese hackers were the most highly skilled.

Bluetooth has proven to be quite the impressive standard; it has seen wide adoption, and is found in most modern cellular phones (both smart and dumb). Hell, it is even found in many automobiles nowadays.

While an incremental update to the Bluetooth standard probably won't make the evening news, it is a very important moment in the tech world. Today the Bluetooth Special Interest Group announces exactly that -- version 4.2 is now officially adopted. Even though the version number change is slight (from 4.1), the new version is big on new features.

Like any company, Google wants to appeal to as many people as possible. Google Docs has been tweaked to increase its appeal to enterprise and business users, and Gmail is constantly primped and poked. Appealing specifically to children is not an entirely new idea for the search giant -- Google Code-In is targeted at 13-17 year olds, for instance -- but now Google is setting its sights on a younger audience.

Talking to USA Today, Vice President of Engineering at Google, Pavni Diwanji explained that the company is looking to create new versions of its products that are "fun and safe for children". Starting next year, the company will launch new versions of existing services, this time aimed at those aged 12 and under.

When you are a developer, the world is not all roses. Sure, it is very rewarding to bring your ideas to life, but sometimes your imagination is limited by the software with which you are forced to use. You see, many services offer an API, which enables your software to connect with it. Ultimately, if it is user-based data, you can push and pull information to and from a users account.

Google's calendar is such a service that offers an API, but sadly, applications were limited to 100,000 requests per day. While this might be sufficient for some developers, it apparently was not good enough for all -- the search giant is increasing this to 1 million daily requests.

With so many people in the world, it is easy to feel like you don't matter. In the USA in particular, the country is deeply divided, causing nearly half the country to feel misrepresented on the issues. Even worse, citizens may feel alone in their ideals and beliefs, as they don't necessarily know how others feel.

Today, Microsoft is not only aiming to help people be heard, but also offering transparency into the thoughts of others. Bing Pulse 2.0 is a new way for participants of live events, or TV-watchers at home, to vote in real-time on various topics. In other words, it is a great tool to engage an audience.

As much as Google would like everyone with word processing, presentation and spreadsheet needs to make exclusive use of Google Docs, the fact is that Office -- particularly the cloud-friendly Office 365 -- remains stubbornly popular. To try to win people over from the dark side, Google has added editing support for an extra 15 Office formats to Docs.

This is not the only change that has been made to try to encourage Office users towards Docs. Google is also making it possible to edit Office documents that arrive in your Gmail inbox as attachments -- no more downloading just to re-upload for editing!

"No one made any money in the Windows phone. We did not make any money from the Windows phone", Joe Kelly, head of international media affairs for Huawei, told the Seattle Times.

This statement comes several months after the China-based mobile device manufacturer said it was putting all future hardware developments for Windows phone on hold until further notice.

Cofeshow is a free Windows and Mac program for converting your chosen images into full HD animated video slideshows.

It’s a familiar idea, but Cofeshow is a little different, and that became obvious from the moment we realized it was a 250MB+ download.

As part of an on-going battle against malware and abuse of the social network, Facebook has joined up with security firm ESET. The partnership follows on from the news back in May that Facebook was working with both Trend Micro and F-Secure to try to combat the threat of malware. The addition of ESET makes a trio of security partners, and Facebook has incorporated the company's technology into its own security systems.

Facebook hopes that by combining the power of F-Secure, Trend Micro and ESET, it should be possible to block the appearance of more malicious links from newsfeeds. The thinking is that adding more security providers will helps to catch even more malware without the need to rely on users having antimalware software installed.

The CAPTCHA is a truly annoying creation. It prevents robots and scripts from pulling content from websites, or spamming them, which is great for website owners and hosts, but irritating for site visitors because it forces them to "prove they are human" by solving a challenge. This usually involves reading and entering some distorted text into a box, although there are other variations.

I personally find them hugely irksome as sometimes they fail to recognize when you get the words right, and sometimes they let you through when you get the words wrong. More importantly, they waste your time. Thankfully, the days of the CAPTCHA are numbered, as Google has come up a human-friendly solution.