Want a second opinion on how badly Windows 8.x is doing?
This year’s Build developer conference is set to get underway shortly, and Microsoft will, among other things, be introducing a major update for Windows 8.1 designed to make it more appealing to keyboard and mouse users.
Yesterday I reported on NetMarketShare’s breakdown of desktop operating system market share in March, which showed XP losing some ground, Windows 7 growing nicely, and Windows 8.x creeping upwards still, but very slowly. Today StatCounter releases its figures, and while the percentages are different, the overall picture remains just as gloomy for Microsoft’s tiled operating system.
aria2 is an HTTP, FTP, BitTorrent downloader for the command line
Downloading a file is usually very simple -- just point your browser at the appropriate URL, and wait -- so it’s hard to imagine why you might want to use a command line tool, instead.
Take a look at the open source aria2, though, and you might change your mind.
BlackBerry and T-Mobile part ways
It is unusual for a smartphone manufacturer to announce it no longer wants to have its devices available at a major mobile operator's stores. Yet this is what the troubled BlackBerry has done.
BlackBerry revealed that it will not renew its agreement with US mobile operator T-Mobile once the license expires later this month, following the controversy triggered by the latter's attempt to move BlackBerry customers to other brands. This decision will effectively put an end to new sales of BlackBerrys at T-Mobile, come April 25.
Spotify for iOS shows off darker theme, improved playlist features
Popular music-streaming service Spotify has updated its iPad and iPhone app with the release of Spotify 1.0. The app gains a refreshed user interface to match the new darker theme being rolled out across all platforms.
It also debuts several new features. Chief among these is Your Music, a means of saving, organizing and browsing the user’s favorite music in one spot.
Millions of home routers expose ISPs to DDoS attacks
DNS software specialist Nominum has revealed that DNS-based DDoS amplification attacks have significantly increased in the recent months, targeting vulnerable home routers worldwide.
The research reveals that more than 24 million home routers have open DNS proxies which potentially expose ISPs to DNS-based DDoS attacks.
LinkedIn 'hacking' tool Sell Hack no longer exposes user email addresses
One of the great things about social networks is that it is possible to connect with people without the need to share email addresses. This means that you can remain "friends" with someone on Facebook, but not get to the point where you're handing out your email address and worrying about checking your inbox. The same is true of LinkedIn, but the difference with this "professional network" is that you're probably connecting with a larger number of people you would rather didn’t have your personal contact details. This comforting level of security was wiped out by Sell Hack.
This free browser extension -- available for Firefox, Chrome and Safari -- could be used to expose the email address associated with any LinkedIn account, regardless of whether you are connected to the person you are, essentially, spying on. Perhaps understandably, this caused a degree of upset and resulted in LinkedIn sending a cease and desist notice to the extension's developers. Sell Hack adds a "Hack In" button to social network pages which, when clicked, reveals the email address used by the account owner to create their page.
Build 2014 kicks off today -- what are you expecting?
There are a couple of major events scheduled for today but, with apologies to Amazon, Microsoft is set to steal the limelight with the kickoff to its Build 2014 conference. The show, which takes place at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, will run through this Friday, and features a plethora of sessions geared towards developers.
But those sessions aren't what matter to the average user -- the big stories will come out on day one with the keynote that kicks off at 11:30 am EDT. There are a few things we expect and others that are are rumored, and some that can be left to pure speculation. Here is a brief look.
BitTorrent Sync arrives on the Kindle Fire platform
BitTorrent Sync entered the market with a clear plan to not be anything like other services, instead choosing to do things its own way and protect the end-user. This resulted in alpha and beta testing, with a slow roll-out, but slow and steady often wins the race. The service is widely available now, being updated, and encompassing more platforms.
While Android was already a part of the ecosystem, there are certain flavors of Google's OS that don't readily comply with the traditional. One of those, in fact perhaps the primary one, is Fire OS -- the operating system produced by Amazon for its popular line of tablets.
Jack is back -- Amazon Prime scores exclusive rights to 24 streaming
It has been four long years since we caught up with anti-terrorism specialist Jack Bauer. No doubt a lot has happened to him over that span of time, but soon we’ll get to catch up with him again, as Fox relaunches the hit series, with a slight name change to 24: Live Another Day.
The violence, fast-paced action and questionable methods employed by Mr. Bauer may not be for every viewer, but those interested will have a second to get up to speed. While the show will appear on the Fox network in the US, Amazon Prime subscribers who want a refresher on what events lead up to this long-delayed ninth season, can begin from…well, the beginning.
Pay up or... We'll let you go. Flawed ransomware leaves behind its key
Locking up a user's PC and demanding a payment to release it has proved very profitable for the cyber crime community.
So much so that malware authors have been turning their hand to new variants. Security software specialist Symantec has been taking a closer look at one such, the CryptoDefense trojan that it first detected in February.
Happy 10th birthday Gmail -- Google's greatest ever April Fools' Day surprise
Whether you love or hate them, Google’s April Fools' Day announcements are something we’ve come to expect, and they’re usually pretty creative, even if they don’t fool many people. Some of this year’s pranks include Google+ Auto Awesome Photobombs with The Hoff, Gmail Shelfie and Google Maps: Pokémon Challenge.
Ten years ago though, Google made what was easily its greatest April Fools' announcement ever -- introducing the world to Gmail, a new free webmail service. Few people fell for it though, as the 1GB of free storage being offered was too fantastical. Hotmail, the market leading service at the time, gave its free users just 2MB and had a policy of ruthlessly deleting new messages once that limit was reached. If you wanted to increase the size of your inbox to 10MB you could, but at the cost of $19.95 a year. And here was a search engine promising 500 times as much storage, for free? Yeah, right. Nice try Google!
O&O Syspectr debuts new email notification system
O&O Software has announced a major update for Syspectr, its remote PC monitoring and management service.
A new email notification system makes it much easier to define which events you’d like to track. A panel lists the event categories ("Security", "Updates", "Software", more), and you can choose whether you’d like to be informed of problems, warnings or "information" alerts with a click.
Internet Explorer leads the way in guarding against social engineering attacks
Deceiving the user into downloading and installing malicious software is one of the most common ways of attacking endpoint systems.
A good web browser can be an effective aid in blocking these social engineering attempts and the latest research from NSS Labs looks at the leading contenders plus three browsers from China to see how good they are at keeping you safe.
Bill Gates loves his new iPhone 5s, can now beat Bono at Candy Crush
Bill Gates just took a bite out of a forbidden fruit. Microsoft's founder has been seen using an iPhone 5s while departing for a philanthropic endeavour, despite his role at the software giant and having a no-Apple-device-allowed policy in his family.
Gates's kids were taken by surprise, after asking to use iPhones since 2007 and being told "No", but said they understand and support his choice as Apple's smartphone "is pretty cool". Gates' decision to buy an iPhone 5s, in white with, naturally, a (Product) Red case, was fueled by Bono's taunts, as U2's lead singer repeatedly teased Gates for not being able to beat him at Candy Crush.
Small companies and big data [Q&A]
It's sometimes said that big data is like teenage sex, everyone talks about it but few are actually doing it. To which you could add that those who are doing it aren't really sure if they’re getting it right.
In an effort to find out how big data is being used in the real world, we spoke to the heads of three startup companies which are employing it in unique ways to pursue specific business opportunities.
© 1998-2025 BetaNews, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy - Cookie Policy.