It might come as a surprise, particularly if you are a Chrome, Opera or Firefox user, but Adblock Plus has not been available for Internet Explorer until now. Microsoft's web browser is the latest to gain the option to block advertisements. An experimental version of the plugin was released for IE a couple of months ago, but today sees the release of the official, final version.

The add-on has been a long time coming to Internet Explorer, and fans of the browser are likely to welcome it with open arms.  If you've used the extension in other browsers, you'll have a good idea of what to expect -- although the name is something of a give-away.

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Ubuntu is one of the most popular Linux distributions. According to DistroWatch, it is the number two most popular, second only to Linux Mint (which is based on Ubuntu). So when Ubuntu makes a change to its default software, the Linux community takes notice.

There has been much speculation that Firefox would be replaced by Chromium as the default web browser on the next version of the operating system. However, Firefox fans can breathe a sigh of relief as Canonical announces the browser will remain as the default in the 13.10 version of the operating system.

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Microsoft is facing a class action suit brought by law firm Robbins Geller on behalf of purchasers of Microsoft Corporation common stock during the period between April 18, 2013 and July 18, 2013 (the "Class Period").

According to the suit, during the stated period, Microsoft "issued materially false and misleading statements regarding the Company’s financial performance and its tablet computer, the Surface RT" -- or to put it in laymen's terms, the company lied about the poor demand and sales of Surface RT, and about the earnings related to the tablet.

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Tony Stark is at it again. Oh wait, I mean Elon Musk, the man behind both Space X and electric sports car maker Tesla...oh, and co-founder of PayPal as well. The man needs a hobby. Fortunately he seems to have found one -- if you consider developing supersonic transit a hobby.

Today Musk unveils his initial plans for Hyperloop -- a brand new mode of transport which the entrepreneur describes as a "fifth mode after planes, trains, cars and boats". The project is a long way from being built, or even completely planned out, but it is fully underway in the initial stages.

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The days of the CrackBerry are well and truly over. Years of declining sales as smartphone users move to iPhones and Android devices for their telecommunication needs has left the Canadian company floundering. In Europe, BlackBerry handsets account for just 2.2 percent of smartphone sales. In the face of stiff competition in a fierce market, BlackBerry is considering a potential sale in a bid to turn around the company's fortunes.

BlackBerry has seen its market share steadily dropping off over the years. In the second quarter of 2013, this stood as just 2.9 percent, down from 4.9 percent in the same period the previous year. A lot of hope was pinned on the launch of the BB10 platform and IDC's research shows that the company has benefited from steady progress since its release.

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Being a tech-savvy Windows user can be both a blessing and a curse. Yes, you can fix whatever software issues arise on your own, without calling for help when you need it the most but, at the same time, friends, family, coworkers, neighbors or even people that you don't even know directly ask you to "come over" to mend their "broken" PC. And, there is a very good chance that no compensation is involved for all those hours spent in front of someone else's computer (hence why some of us tell the other person we're busy for the whole year, and always working or on vacation -- I'm exaggerating, but you get the picture).

Jumpshot is a company that promises to fix this perennial problem for both sides, through an automated tool which is designed to be used by tech-savvy users and beginners alike. How? Well, I chatted with the company's CTO and co-founder Pedram Amini to find out how it works, what it can do for you and, most importantly, whether it can solve the "tech support" issue that users have been dealing with since malware (or grime, as Jumpshot likes to call it) first hit Windows PCs.

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If a Windows application is misbehaving then browsing your event logs (Start > Run > eventvwr.msc) can sometimes tell you more, as they’ll typically reveal all kinds of error and status messages that aren’t visible any other way.

To find out whether this is worth your time, though, it would help to know whether the application can actually use the event logs to record anything. Most programs don’t bother to tell you, and Windows won’t either -- but that’s where EventLogSourcesView comes in.

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Google's Chromecast streamer may not yet have set the world on fire but it is earning itself quite a following. Part of the device's appeal is its low price -- just $35 for a fairly capable plugin streaming unit -- but there are times when only free will do. CheapCast is a free app that turns virtually any Android phone or tablet (running Android 2.2 or above is the only requirement) into a Chromecast.

The app is a fairly early beta, but in terms of replicating what Chromecast has to offer, it does a reasonably good job. CheapCast does nothing, yet, to address many of the complaints about Chromecast -- such as the inability to easily stream local content -- but it does mimic the Google device's casting capabilities for the likes of YouTube and Google Play.

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I'm a big fan of Hip-Hop music -- underground rap in particular. For me, SoundCloud is a great way to discover new  artists (all music genres are represented though). However, it is also a great way to connect with musicians that I am already a fan of. Unfortunately, as great as the service is, sharing music from SoundCloud was never a great experience -- this is a shame, as music is meant to be communal. Today things are changing. SoundCloud announces that it has enabled Google+ music sharing.

"We're always excited to develop new ways to make it easy for you to share and hear sounds everywhere. So we're happy to announce today that we're working together with Google to make it easier than ever to reach your audience by sharing sounds to Google+", says SoundCloud.

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Web automation service IFTTT just gained itself a new channel, adding support for no lesser an establishment than the New York Times. This means that if you don’t want to have to keep checking the NYT website to see when there is a new article in the Science section, you no longer need to. In a couple of steps it's possible to create a recipe that will send you an SMS, email or some other form of alert.

As with many of IFTTT's other channels, the New York Times has various possible triggers. In addition to the addition of an article to a particular section, recipes can also check for popular' articles, Critic's Pick movie reviews, new additions to the Best Sellers list and the addition of new events.

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Lately, it seems like Bitcoin is under attack. Only two weeks ago, Thailand outright banned the currency. Before that, it was discovered that Bitcoin-stealing malware was spreading through Skype. Sadly, today comes the announcement that Android has a vulnerability which can expose your precious Bitcoins to thieves.

According to Bitcoin.org, "a component of Android responsible for generating secure random numbers contains critical weaknesses, that render all Android wallets generated to date vulnerable to theft. Because the problem lies with Android itself, this problem will affect you if you have a wallet generated by any Android app".

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Adopting Windows Phone 8, and ditching Android, was one of the most daring decisions that I have ever made in my entire tech life. I am the sort of person who does not warm up to major changes (not my strong suit), especially ones that involve transitioning between two polarizing mobile platforms. But, surprisingly, I gave up the flexibility and versatility of the green droid operating system for the glanceable information and simplicity of Windows Phone. Admittedly, it was not smooth sailing from day one.

The problem is that, in order to fully adjust to the change, something has got to give, namely features that I consider to be essential for a modern-day smartphone operating system. For some they may not matter as much, but others -- like me, and maybe you -- are likely to be left wanting for more. And, no, I am not talking about widgets, themes, root or Instagram (it, however, seems to be the tech media's favorite blaming toy even though there are good third-party alternatives), but rather more down-to-earth, mundane ones.

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I have twice now written of my foray into Windows Phone 8, via the Nokia Lumia 928. During my last article I promised a deep-dive into the platform, but have since reconsidered this, as there is really nothing to say that has not already been written. You know of the apps and the lack of them -- you know the specs and, if you have used a handset, then you know where everything is and how to use it. In short, I would be wasting my breath...ahh...words.

I have resided in the Android world for sometime, first with a Droid X and most recently with the Galaxy Nexus. I remain there in the tablet world, currently owning an Asus MeMO, Kindle Fire HD and the new Nexus 7 -- the latter of which my son relieved me of. I love them all, but my phone of choice has changed.

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Hot on the heels of its Firefox 23 FINAL release, Mozilla has launched updates to its beta and alpha channels with the launch of Firefox 24.0 Beta 1 and Firefox Aurora 25.0a2 respectively.

The biggest changes in play can be found in Firefox 24.0 Beta 1, with a number of noteworthy new features and improvements, including another update to its burgeoning social API with support for tearing off chat windows to view them in a separate, floating window.

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Do you wonder how many Windows 8 licenses Microsoft has sold? Are you kept awake at night trying to calculate how many minutes are spent speaking on Skype globally each day? Intrigued to learn how many pageviews MSN gets each month? Well fret no more! The answers to all of these ponderings and plenty more besides can be found on Microsoft's new By the Numbers website.

In a break from the usual look of Microsoft sites, the modern styling of Windows 8 is used here to produce an interactive infographic that does an excellent job of blowing Microsoft's trumpet. The tiled interface mimics that found on Windows 8's Start screen, but the difference here is that live tiles are used to display key statistics about various areas of Microsoft's business.

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