Target warns of unauthorized access to payment card data
If you've recently used your payment card in a Target store in the US you might want to check your statements carefully. In a statement on its website the company warns that "guests" who made card purchases in its stores between November 27 and December 15 may have had their card data compromised.
My colleague Brian Fagioli who bought his iPad at Target on the December 14 is now anxiously biting his nails as his could be one of the estimated 40 million cards that may have been affected.
Cyanogenmod comes to the Nexus 5 -- in case form
The Nexus 5 is both beautiful and inexpensive. Even though the smartphone doesn't cost a lot, it is still a good idea to protect it with a case. However, finding a good case can be hit or miss. When I reviewed two such cases, I found that the official Nexus 5 case was poor, while the much less expensive Cruzerlite Bugdroid Circuit was great.
Sadly, neither of those two cases embody the true openness and hackability of the Nexus 5. After all, when you buy a Nexus device, you want people to know it. Luckily, Cyanogenmod Inc announces a partnership with Cruzerlite to create an official Cyanogenmod case. What better way to show off your Nexus device than with a case that represents (arguably) the most popular custom ROM?
Xbox One is so desperate to hear your voice, it’s charging you a fortune just for listening
It’s probably no surprise to hear that the newly released PlayStation 4 and Xbox One both consume a lot of power, despite touting a number of new energy-saving features. According to the NRDC’s (Natural Resources Defense Council) Center for Energy Efficiency, the higher performance and always-on features result in the consoles using up to three times as much energy per year as their predecessors.
Video game consoles in the United States are projected to use more electricity annually than all the households in Houston, America’s fourth-largest city, but it’s not just playing games, or watching movies that’s using power (and draining your bank account in the process). Much of the Xbox One's operating costs come from the console waiting for you to speak to it.
Windows Phone 8 gets Xbox Music and Video, but do users love the new apps?
In a new attempt to level the playing field between Windows Phone 8 and its main rivals, iOS and Android, Microsoft has launched the Xbox Music and Xbox Video apps for its tiled smartphone operating system. The two offerings complement the existing functionality and add more options to purchase and consume content.
Until now, Microsoft provided no option for Windows Phone 8 users to purchase or rent movies from their smartphones. Xbox Video adds these features, alongside content streaming and download. Users have access to both popular movies and TV shows, like Fast & Furious 6 and Family Guy. For the latter category, the app allows them to get a Season Pass, that will automatically add new episodes to the user's collection.
Where in the world is The Pirate Bay?
Forget Carmen Sandiego, The Pirate Bay has become the hardest thing to find these days. The torrent sharing site has been on a recent world tour, following ongoing legal woes, that have included court trials and domain seizures. The past week has been especially busy for the owners, involving lots of packing and unpacking of suitcases.
Just yesterday the site called Guyana home, making the service available for those who found the .gy domain. In previous days, the service has visited Sint Maarten (.sx) and stopped for a whirlwind tour of Ascenion Island (.ac). The Pirate Bay had, earlier this year, racked up frequent flier miles for visits to Iceland (.is) and Greenland (.gl).
Adaptiva’s enterprise IT predictions for 2014 [Q&A]
This is the time of year when people like to get out their crystal balls and try to imagine what the landscape of the coming 12 months will look like. IT efficiency and system management systems provider Adaptiva has announced its predictions for enterprise systems in 2014. The company has identified three key trends which it believes will shape the landscape for the next year: that BYOD will fail to live up to its hype, that lack of WAN bandwidth will hamper infrastructure plans, and that the continued use of Windows XP will cause significant security issues.
We spoke to the company's Chief Technology Officer and founder Deepak Kumar about the trends he sees shaping the enterprise IT landscape next year.
Citrix releases GoToMeeting for Windows Phone 8
Citrix has launched GoToMeeting for Windows Phone 8, an app which allows users to create or join online meetings from their smartphone. The popular solution arrives in Store following its release on Windows, OS X, iOS and Android, and is one of the latest high-profile releases on the platform alongside Instagram, Vine and others.
The Windows Phone 8 version of the app allows users to join a meeting or webinar either by entering the Meeting ID or tapping a link included in a calendar appointment or email. GoToMeeting can show "whatever the presenter shares on-screen", including presentations and reports, and supports gestures like pinch to zoom (for content).
Time is running out: How to upgrade from Windows 8.1 Preview
The finished version of Windows 8.1 has been out for a couple of months now, but if you’re still using the free preview build, time is running out. Windows 8.1 Preview and Windows RT 8.1 Preview are both set to expire on January 15.
Upgrading from the preview to the final GA release is very easy, and there are a couple of ways of doing it.
STDU Viewer opens PDF, MOBI, TIFF, CBR/CBZ, EPub, PDB files and more
If you’re working on someone else’s PC and need to view a PDF file, then it probably won’t be an issue. Just about everyone has a copy of Adobe Reader (or something similar) around, allowing you to open and browse the document as usual.
If you’re faced with a DjVu file, though -- or a TIFF, MOBI, EPub document or PSD image -- then you might need to do a little extra work. And that’s where STDU Viewer comes in.
Ashampoo Snap adds multiple desktop object capture, improves sharing options
German software developer Ashampoo GmBH has launched Ashampoo Snap 7.0, a major new release of its screen-capture tool for Windows users. Version 7 is described by Ashampoo as "The screen capturing solution that does it all", and is backed up with a large array of new features.
Version 7 also comes with the promise of a smoother workflow, simpler user experience, smarter work environment and integrated sharing tools.
Coast by Opera 2.0 ramps up audio support
Opera Software has announced that Coast, its iPad web browser, has been updated to version 2.0.
New audio support means that this release can play music directly, without requiring an extra app. There are more ways to customize your Coast wallpaper. As well as setting it to your preferred web image, you can point the program at one of eight bundled backgrounds, or use an image from your photo roll. Just long press the home screen and choose whatever you need.
You won't be compelled to buy the Nokia Lumia 2520 after seeing this ad
Nokia is one of the latest hardware makers to enter the tablet market, with the Lumia 2520. It's an interesting device, that has a great display, powerful internals, 4G LTE cellular connectivity, decent internal storage, an attractive price and Windows RT 8.1 on board, that you either love or loathe. And you'd think that Nokia would want to lure consumers with these features, to get them to buy its colorful new tablet.
Like Microsoft and its first Windows RT slate, the Surface RT, Nokia went on a different path to promote the Lumia 2520. The Finnish company has released an ad which, from my point of view, does nothing to explain to consumers why they should spend their money on the device. Do not get me wrong, the ad is very interesting but the way it goes about pitching the Lumia 2520 as a good buy is very, very strange.
What have been the biggest disappointments of 2013?
It's that time of year once again. Approaching the end of another 365 and a quarter days cycle puts us all in a reflective mood. It's not uncommon to look back at what has happened in the previous 12 months and pick out the highlights of the year. It's also quite common to look forward in anticipation of what the coming year might have to offer. But how about something a little different, something a little more downbeat? What have been your lowlights and disappointments? There's no need to end the year on a high, after all!
I am one of those people still devastated at the loss of Google Reader. Both as a journalist and as someone who simply devours news from all manner of sources, this was my go-to service for getting my daily -- well, hourly… oh, OK, five minutely -- fix of headlines from hundreds of websites. Double disappointment came when I thought an ideal solution was to be found in Feedly, but slow updates and a pricing structure I found objectionable meant that this soon fell by the wayside. Disappointment number two. Still, it helped me to discover InoReader -- every cloud, and all that.
What tech toys do you want to find under the tree this year?
The holiday shopping season is well underway -- getting on towards the finish line actually. That said, there is still time to grab a few last-minute gifts and beg for the ones you wish to remove the bow from. And that is the question I now pose to you -- what tech toys are you harboring hopes for this time around?
I cannot, of course, read your mind, and likely not sway opinions, though I do plan to give you some unsolicited ideas on what I found to my liking in 2013.
Style Jukebox takes your music collection to the cloud [Q&A]
Nowadays, cloud services like Pandora and Spotify allow us to listen to our favorite tunes no matter where we are, without having to actually own a single song. But what happens to our music collections, which we have built up over the years? Some of us have thousands of tracks, stored locally on devices like PCs. Should we just abandon our beloved content and embrace alternative ways of enjoying it?
Luckily, answering this question does not involve making a compromise. Cloud service Style Jukebox aims for the middle road, by providing a convenient solution that allows users to upload the music they own to the cloud and play it on PCs, smartphones and tablets. It is designed to work both with and without an Internet connection (the content can also be downloaded for offline playback), which makes it a good fit for those who use devices which are not always connected to the cloud. As Style Jukebox's motto says, "Your music, anywhere, on all your devices".
© 1998-2025 BetaNews, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy - Cookie Policy.