Microsoft security report warns of risks from unsupported operating systems
Microsoft has released its latest Security Intelligence Report detailing the threat intelligence gathered from more than a billion systems worldwide.
With Windows XP support due to end in April 2014 the report takes a close look at the risks posed to consumers and businesses of using unsupported operating systems. According to StatCounter, XP and older systems still account for around 21 percent of those in use.
Samsung smartphones capture record market share, leave iPhones behind
According to new quarterly reports from IDC and Strategy Analytics, Samsung has increased its lead on the smartphone market in Q3 2013. The South Korean maker's shipments were higher than those of the next four-largest vendors, combined, according to the IDC data.
Samsung's smartphone shipments surpassed 80 million units (IDC -- 81.2 million; SA --88.4 million), leading to a market share above 30 percent (IDC -- 31.4 percent; SA -- 35.2 percent). Once again, the two research firms, both of which count shipments, provide different data sets for both shipments and market share. However, both reports say that in Q3 2013 smartphone shipments reached record levels (IDC -- 258.4 million; SA -- 251.4 million).
Amazon releases MatchBook for Kindle
It has been nearly two months since online retail giant Amazon announced its MatchBook feature for Kindle, complimenting the previously unveiled Autorip service for music. Now, the company finally shows the feature the light of day, unveiling MatchBook availability effective today.
If you aren't familiar, MatchBook for Kindle provides customers with the opportunity to purchase a Kindle version of any book already bought through Amazon in physical form. You could, of course, do this previously, but only by paying full price for each copy. With MatchBook, prices range from free up to $2.99 for the digital version.
Sophos launches cloud-managed security for business
Organizations face a constant challenge to balance keeping their systems secure against the time taken to maintain that protection. Security specialist Sophos has announced an answer to this problem in the form of a product that can be managed from the cloud, providing a simplified approach combined with protection from the latest threats.
Sophos Cloud provides endpoint protection for all sizes of enterprise but because it's cloud-managed it can protect users regardless of physical location. This makes it attractive for companies that have multiple sites or a home-based workforce.
Nokia sells record-high 8.8 million Lumias, but is the growth slowing?
Finnish mobile maker Nokia has released its Q3 2013 financial results, revealing record-high Lumia sales of 8.8 million units. The Windows Phone strategy appears to be paying off, with sales showing noticeable growth quarter-over-quarter, in the past year. The latest report, however, indicates that the Lumia momentum may be slowly burning off.
Quarter-over-quarter, Lumia sales increased by just 19 percent, from 7.4 million units in Q2 2013. By contrast, the sales increase in Q2 2013 from Q1 2013 was 32 percent, 27 percent in Q1 2013 from Q4 2012 and 51.72 percent in Q4 2012 from Q3 2012 (Q3 2012 is notorious for terrible Lumia sales of just 2.9 million units, so it's more of an oddity rather than a rule -- Q2 2012 Lumia sales were 4 million units). This indicates that, even though sales are higher, the significant growth will not continue for a long time. Seeing as Nokia is the largest Windows Phone vendor, this could lead to a stagnating (or decreasing) share for the tiled smartphone operating system.
Redbox Instant debuts on Sony PS3
Redbox Instant by Verizon debuted its streaming video service back in January of this year, taking a successful DVD rental model and putting it into direct competition with the likes of Netflix and Amazon. The service was originally exclusive to Microsoft's Xbox, at least as far as game consoles go, but has since been confirmed for Sony's next-generation PS4 console as well.
Now customers who own Sony's current console will also get the opportunity to choose Redbox Instant as their streaming movie service. "Later today, Redbox Instant by Verizon will be available on PS3, giving you access to thousands of streaming movies. You’ll also be able to find and reserve new releases on DVD and Blu-ray at more than 43,000 Redbox kiosks right from your console", announces Sean Bordenave, product manager for Redbox.
Internet Explorer vastly superior at defeating social engineering attacks
Security research firms frequently test browsers to see how good they are at protecting users from malware and phishing attacks. The results show you how secure (or otherwise) the latest versions are, but don't give you any real indication of how well they might perform in the future.
Identifying trends in performance is important, particularly for companies thinking of switching browsers, so NSS Labs evaluated the security of Internet Explorer, Chrome, Firefox and Safari by aggregating results from phishing and socially engineered malware (SEM) attack tests conducted between 2009 and 2013.
NirSoft releases QuickSetDNS
Nir Sofer has announced the release of QuickSetDNS 1.0, a compact and portable tool which makes it easy to change the DNS servers for your Internet connection.
The program’s built-in options are rather limited. It can only configure your Windows 2000-8 PC to use Google Public DNS; to automatically retrieve DNS details from your router, or to restore whatever custom DNS settings you have when QuickSetDNS was first launched.
Firefox adds Web Audio API support, minor tweaks
Mozilla has released Firefox 25.0 FINAL for Windows, Mac and Linux. The big splash in version 25 is official support for the Web Audio API, which allows developers to manipulate and play audio assets within a web page or app using HTML5 rather than a plug-in.
Mozilla has also confirmed that it plans to continue supporting Windows XP. This means XP users will continue to be supported by two major web browsers -- Chrome is the other --– after Microsoft pulls the plug on support next year.
Motorola announces Project Ara -- a build-it-yourself, modular smartphone
It looks as though Motorola may be making it a little easier to buy the perfect smartphone. The Google company is taking mobile devices in something of a new direction, and all is revealed in a post on the Motorola blog. The company plans to do something new by developing "a free, open hardware platform for creating highly modular smartphones" -- a click together phone, if you will.
So what's the idea? You know how you find the perfect phone but it has a camera that you just know you'll never use? You feel like you're paying for something unnecessary right? Or you find a phone you like but the battery doesn’t last quite long enough? Problems like this could become a thing of the past with Project Ara.
Logitech releases an onslaught of iPad Air cases
I have been having a great time using the Surface 2 in my "all-in on Microsoft" experiment. Microsoft's tablet works great on its own, but the keyboard accessories (Touch 2 and Type 2 covers) enhance the overall functionality. While the iPad is a great tablet too, Apple simply does not provide a physical mobile keyboard solution. Instead, the iPad community relies on third-party offerings to supplement the deficiencies of the Apple tablet in this regard.
While third-party accessories can be hit-or-miss, Apple fans need not worry; Logitech has their back. Yes, the renowned manufacturer has been making Apple accessories for many years. Today, the company announces four new cases for the recently announced iPad Air -- three of which are keyboard-variants.
Looking to clean and optimize your Mac? Try IObit’s new MacBooster tool
Does the world need another system cleaning tool, even if it’s on the Mac? IObit thinks so, and the result is MacBooster 1.0.1, the company’s first foray into the Apple market. This paid-for tool, available as a 14-day download, attempts to provide a one-stop shop for cleaning and optimizing your Mac.
Its subtitle is "For the Maximum Speed", and to that end bundles a selection tools to help clear out junk, improve security and free up system resources.
Microsoft celebrates 10 years of OneNote -- one notable decade
It may be hard to believe, but OneNote was released in November 2003. To many mature users of Microsoft's Office suite, it still feels like a "new" addition. Sadly, many people do not use the note-taking, collaboration solution, likely from a lack of education on the software. I am only a few years removed from college and never observed a single student leveraging OneNote in the classroom; they all used Word. This is unfortunate as it is a great cross-platform solution -- Windows, iOS, Android, and Windows Phone are now all supported.
To celebrate the 10 year anniversary, Microsoft is launching the One Notable Decade campaign. This should hopefully raise awareness of the powerful software. Today, Microsoft shares some examples of how OneNote helps people be successful in their lives.
Identified uses social media to create largest ever recruitment database
Finding the right staff is crucial to the operation of any business. But often the people that are right for a role aren't necessarily looking for a new job. San Francisco-based analytics specialist Identified thinks it has an answer to this with a new product that combines social media and big data techniques to create a massive searchable candidate database.
Identified Recruit claims to have a billion potential candidates available making it the largest source of professional profiles. You may think that this is like LinkedIn, but the difference is that Identified Recruit uses multiple data sources so it isn't limited by its own user base.
AI firm Vicarious cracks CAPTCHA codes
CAPTCHA are a thorn in the side of web users. Those almost indecipherable string of letters and numbers that are meant to help websites determine that you are a human rather than a spambot often cause more frustration for users than anything else, and they have now been cracked.
Vicarious, a California-based AI team, reveals that it has been able to develop algorithms that can successfully solve CAPTCHAs from the likes of Google, Yahoo and PayPal.
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