Latest Technology News

Sixtieth in a series. The US Windows Store on Windows 8.1 passed the 100,000 apps mark this week.

Users of Windows 8.1 who access the store have now 100,962 apps at their disposal that they can download and install on their system. This is an increase of 2,383 apps over last week, and while the overall growth slowed down a bit, it still means that it stayed well above the 2,000 apps per week mark.

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Christmas is upon us and that means two things -- travel and guilt. While most Americans will be travelling for the holiday, a good portion of them will not be spending it with family. This ultimately leads to the aforementioned guilt. After all, for some, it may be the last Christmas they get to spend with older relatives before they pass away. These people are opting for alternative plans -- how cold! However, Microsoft has a solution -- Skype your family instead.

"According to a recent survey we conducted with Harris Interactive, not everyone will get to be home for the holidays. In fact, three-quarters (77-percent) of Americans will be traveling away from their homes this holiday season, and one in four say they aren't spending time with immediate or extended family this holiday because it's too far to travel. Another 20-percent blame the cost of travel from keeping them apart from their families", says Nicol Addison, Microsoft.

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CyberLink has launched a major new update to its powerful webcam toolset with the release of CyberLink YouCam 6 Standard and CyberLink YouCam 6 Deluxe. Version 6.0 adds a new camera shooting mode and creative photo editing tools alongside a new free Creative Camera companion app.

The latest build also introduces a new calendar view, plus allows users to organize photos using facial recognition technology. It also comes optimized for use with Windows touch screens.

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Microsoft has released Project Siena, a Windows 8 app which allows anyone to create Windows 8 apps, no programming skills required.

Building the interface is as simple as placing, moving and resizing assorted objects on your page: images, videos, buttons, lists, checkboxes, whatever you need.

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Business systems specialist Oracle has announced that it’s reached an agreement to acquire Responsys for $1.5 million. Responsys is one of the leading providers of enterprise-scale, cloud-based business to consumer marketing software.

Buying Responsys extends Oracle's Customer Experience Cloud to create a product that meets the needs of companies with both B2B and B2C marketing requirements. It enables chief marketing officers (CMOs) to run marketing campaigns across email, mobile platforms, social media and the web, it also allows them to operate at a massive scale and across the full consumer lifecycle.

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You've known for a month, providing you cared enough to notice the news. AOL announced that its once prominent media player, Winamp, would cease to exist on December 20, 2013. But before the obituary can even be written, music streaming service Spotify has stepped in with its own tribute.

Today the company announces Spotiamp -- "to honour the engineering skill and passion that goes into building wonderful software that millions of people enjoy we would like to share a small tribute to honor the great legacy of Winamp".

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Television used to be simple. When you only had a few channels delivered via an aerial or a cable, deciding what to watch and where to watch it was easy. But with multi-channel digital services, the ability to watch on mobile devices, catch up with programs you’ve missed and more, it’s now a whole lot more complicated.

Little wonder then that apps which help you work out what to watch are proving popular. YO.TV, the UK's most used TV guide with five million customers, now plans to expand to 50 countries in 14 languages. Available on Google Play and the App Store, YO.TV lets users see listings for all their favorite channels across broadcast providers. Its Now and Next options streamline the scanning process, giving a cross section view of the full channel listings for any given time block. Personalized features let users set themselves reminders on their personal calendars so they don’t miss a favorite show or share their tastes in TV via social media.

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When it comes to browsers, Firefox had long been the king of the customization. The browser revolutionized the usage of themes and extensions to allow the user to have a unique and personal experience. When Chrome was initially released, a lack of extensions caused many web users to turn their noses up at Google's browser. After all, if you want to release new product, it needs to at least surpass existing ones for people to notice.

Well, times have certainly changed -- Chrome has usurped Firefox in both customization and usage statistics. Google's browser has an amazing selection of extensions and themes. In fact, the browser has proved so important and popular, that it even spawned an operating system based on it -- Chrome OS. However, Google now announces that it is changing the policy regarding extensions in the Chrome Web Store. But, is this a good or a bad change?

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It's probably not something you need worry about in relation to your personal files just yet, but according to a newly published paper (the snappily titled "RSA Key Extraction via Low-Bandwidth Acoustic Cryptanalysis") it appears that it is possible to extract 4096-bit RSA decryption keys by listening to the sounds made by a computer.

This might sound like the talk of someone paranoid, but it is actually more feasible than you might first think. And the paper has been penned by no less than Adi Shamir, the co-inventor of the RSA algorithm.

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Privacy has been a hot topic throughout 2013 and it’s always worth taking a little time to make sure you’re not accidentally sharing more information with the world than you might want to. Microsoft’s tiled operating system comes with some handy privacy controls baked in that you should definitely take a look at if you haven’t already.

This feature won’t stop the NSA spying on you, but it can prevent apps from accessing personal details like your name, photo, location and account info, and prevent them from using your PC or tablet's camera and microphone without your knowledge.

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Genie Corporation has announced the availability of Genie Timeline 2014, the latest edition of its popular backup tool.

All editions now benefit from a Recycle Bin. Accidentally delete some backed-up files and they’ll all appear together in the Bin, making them much easier to restore. Or, if you really need to be sure the files have gone forever, then you’re able to permanently delete them with a click.

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Having uncovered the Android dialler malware last week, mobile security specialist Lookout is warning of a new threat involving a tangled web of spam, foreign banks and bulk messaging.

The threat surrounds a bulk SMS network called Bazuc which offers Android users a payout if they allow the network to access their unused SMS message allowance. The app has been downloaded up to 50,000 times from the Play Store but the author claims up to 100 downloads an hour so it’s evidently on third-party stores too.

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When Oppo unveiled the CyanogenMod version of its N1 phablet, the Chinese company did not provide any details as to whether the new model would receive Google's stamp of approval and, therefore, official access to the Play store. I was very skeptical that this would happen, seeing as CyanogenMod has never been certified for prime time use.

As some of you may know, in order for a device to officially receive Google Play access, it has to be certified by Google. This is one of the reasons why there are so many Android smartphones and tablets (mostly inexpensive ones) out in the wild that ship without any Google-branded apps and services. As it turns out, the N1 will not be part of the said bunch.

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As the world begins to emerge from recession it's trade that will play a major role in driving the recovery. In a bid to bring together importers and exporters from around the world to increase transactions, IBM is partnering with Eurobank -- one of the largest banks in Greece -- to launch a cloud-based platform for international trading.

Called Exportgate -- a name which puts us in mind of some sort of scandal but we're sure they know what they’re doing -- it uses IBM's Digital Experience software to create a secure business-to-business web portal. Exportgate combines industry analysis tools to allow buyers to view company profiles and presentations, contact sellers directly and exchange ideas and research via forums. It also has the social capabilities you'd expect of any self-respecting modern business package.

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Christmas comes early this year for Moto G users. Motorola has announced that Android 4.4.2 KitKat is now rolling out for its entry-level smartphone, in less than two months after parent company Google launched the latest version of the popular mobile operating system.

The Android 4.4.2 KitKat update is rolling out to Moto G smartphones that were purchased in the US, from Amazon and Motorola's online shop. It is expected to arrive in other markets, and at mobile operator versions, "soon".

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