Parallels IP Holdings GmbH has launched Parallels Access for iPad and iPhone 2.1 and Parallels Access for Android 2.1, a useful new update to its desktop remote control app.

Version 2.1 now allows users to sign in using their Google+ accounts, plus promises slicker drag-and-drop performance when using the Lock’N’Go magnifying glass among other improvements and the usual stability fixes.

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China has stepped up its tough stance on foreign technology suppliers with reports it has banned government purchases of Apple products.

Apple has so far declined to comment on reports that China’s government has banned its agencies from buying Apple products including iPad, iPad Mini, MacBook Air and MacBook Pro.

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Everyone is jumping on the smartwatch bandwagon lately. The problem is, the watches often aren't all that smart. You see, manufacturers seem intent on making them extensions of smartphones. In theory, linking the two together makes sense; however, to be truly smart, the watch should be an independent device.

Today, famed watch-maker Timex bucks that trend and announces its new smartwatch -- the Ironman One GPS+. Not only does the watch work without a smartphone, it has its own cellular data connection. Intrigued? Read on.

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I had lunch last week with my old friend Aurel Kleinerman, an MD who also runs a Silicon Valley software company called MITEM, which specializes in combining data from disparate systems and networks onto a single desktop.

Had the Obama Administration known about MITEM, linking all those Obamacare health insurance exchanges would have been trivial. Given MITEM’s 500+ corporate and government customers, you’d think the company would have come to the attention of the White House, but no.

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Back in June we looked at B1 Free Archiver, a free cross-platform archive manager which can open (though not create) 38+ archive formats.

The same developer is also behind B1 File Manager, a capable file explorer for Android.

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A recent report by Juniper on mobile ad spending estimated that it’s set to reach $40 billion a year by 2018. It's easy to understand why since the data it's possible to collect from a mobile device is valuable to marketers.

In a move to unlock this information media analytics company Visible Technologies has announced a new set of geo-location capabilities for its Visible Intelligence platform that give marketers the power to pinpoint specific locations of consumer social media posts anywhere in the world.

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In what will surely take photobombing memes to another level, university researchers have created a three-dimensional photo editing tool that lets you rotate and animate objects in two-dimensional photographs.

Students at Carnegie Mellon University say the tool will let people turn or flip objects in a single photo and even show bits of them that weren't captured in the original shot.

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Just in case you aren't getting your orders from Amazon quite fast enough, a problem that generally doesn't exist in most cases, you can look forward to same-day delivery now. The company was already doing this in a limited amount of locations, but now is expanding to even more cities.

Customers in Baltimore, Dallas, Indianapolis, New York City, Philadelphia and the Washington DC metro areas can now have access to the quick deliveries, though it does depend on the item you are purchasing, as not everything is in stock within a location that can handle this delivery.

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The boom in numbers of mobile devices offers an opportunity for enterprises to change the way they do business, but a majority are failing to take advantage.

A new white paper produced by IDC and sponsored by enterprise mobility specialist Kony looks at how companies are using mobile technology to boost their business.

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Smartphone makers would do well to take into account the results of a new poll from price comparison and switching service uSwitch.com which found that just 3 percent of Smartphone users are interested in quirky or unique features, such as Amazon’s Fire phone’s face tracking.

While gimmicks like that might help differentiate one device from another, what most smartphone users want is a phone that is easy to use and doesn’t require constant charging -- and preferably with built-in fingerprint scanning security.

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All Windows Phone 8 devices are supposed to be compatible with Windows Phone 8.1 Update 1, but it looks like one of them, namely HTC's inconspicuous Windows Phone 8S, will be stuck running Windows Phone 8.1 going forward. That's a shame.

Due to what appear to be hardware incompatibilities, HTC has announced that the first major update for Windows Phone 8.1 will not be offered to its Windows Phone 8S users. The Windows Phone 8X flagship, which it introduced in late-2012, will, however, receive Windows Phone 8.1 Update 1.

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Storing data in the cloud is convenient and makes for easy sharing and collaboration but it inevitably raises security concerns, especially when using public services.

Content Raven produces a cloud-based file distribution toolkit which adds an extra layer to provide content control, security and deep analytics to files stored in the cloud. It already integrates with Box and Dropbox but from today adds support for Google Drive too.

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The first Unpacked event of the year sees Samsung unveiling a new installment in the Galaxy S flagship series, while the second Unpacked event of the year is where the South Korean maker takes the wraps off its latest Galaxy Note premium phablet. Since, in 2014, Episode 1 brought us Galaxy S5, it does not take long to figure out that Galaxy Note 4 is coming at Episode 2.

Unpacked 2014 Episode 2 will be held simultaneously in Berlin, Beijing and New York, on September 3. And, even though Samsung only describes it as "the event to see 'the next big thing'", the press invite hints at the unveiling of Galaxy Note 4.

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The Cryptolocker ransomware has had something of a checkered history, from the news that its GameOver Zeus botnet had been taken down by the authorities to a new strain of the malware appearing in June, it's seldom been out of the news this year.

Now though the story has taken a new twist and victims of the malware -- estimated at around 500,000 people -- can recover their encrypted files without the need to pay a ransom.

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As we rely more and more on mobile devices and an increasing number of businesses adopt BYOD strategies, security and privacy risks become a greater concern.

A new report by risk management specialist Appthority looks at the hidden risks presented by the 400 most popular iOS and Android apps. It identifies the ten most risky behaviors that threaten enterprise security, at least one of which is found in 99 percent of popular free apps.

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