The Google Play store is being bombarded with apps designed to scam unsuspecting users, according to consumer advice platform Scambook.

The scammers aren't even bothering to write malicious code, instead relying on simple human error to install their fraudulent apps. One app in particular has no purpose other than to launch a link to an adult video website. When the user is then asked to register, an email form is generated linking to another service on another website. Users are then asked to pay a $3,200.00 yearly fee within days of receipt.

Continue reading →

The worldwide PC market continues to experience few signs of growth, with a healthy increase in global tablet shipments merely helping to offset the continuing descent of traditional desktop and notebook systems, according to independent analyst firm Canalys.

While tablet shipments saw a 42.9 percent increase compared with this time last year, desktop and notebook shipments fell 7.4 percent and 13.9 percent respectively. Total shipments for PCs (Canalys lumps desktops, notebooks and tablets together) delivered a 0.3 percent growth for the year.

Continue reading →

David Thoiron has announced the release of FotoSketcher 2.50, his excellent tool for transforming digital photos into paintings, sketches, cartoons and more. And while it doesn’t exactly transform the program, the update does include one or two very welcome improvements.

Top of the list has to be the new linear halftoning effect. With its default settings this is a very effective abstraction tool, and delivers great results on both color and black and white images. But as usual with FotoSketcher, the effect has a host of configuration settings (Abstraction, Angle, Color Intensity, Texture and more), and it’s easy to produce more customized results to better suit individual images.

Continue reading →

Instagram just introduced a major change to the video-posting feature in its Android and iOS mobile apps, with the popular social network now allowing users to upload pre-recorded clips from the smartphone's gallery.

The revamped video-posting feature is part of the new Instagram apps for Android and iOS, version 4.1. "Starting today you can upload videos from your phone's media library and share those moments to Instagram regardless of when they were captured", says Instagram. "Once you select the video clip you'd like to import, you can trim it down to the exact part you like best. We've also made it so that you can choose how you square-crop your clip so you can keep the action front and center".

Continue reading →

There are several new data points this week in the ongoing cratering of IBM as an IT vendor. The state of Pennsylvania cancelled an unemployment compensation system contract that was 42 months behind and $60 million over budget. Big Blue has been banned from the Australian state of Queensland after botching a $6.9 million SAP project that will now reportedly cost the people of Queensland $A1.2 billion to fix. That’s some botch.

Credit Suisse analyst Kulbinder Garcha says IBM has a cash flow problem and downgraded the stock. At IBM’s Systems & Technology Group, management announced to employees a one week mandatory furlough at the end of August or beginning of September. And finally, I’m told that there is now a filter on the IBM corporate e-mail system that flags any messages that contain the word Cringely. I’m flattered.

Continue reading →

While LG has slowly made a name for itself in the USA with such devices as televisions and washing machines, the company has also released smartphones to much lesser fanfare. The South Korean company has a small and quiet following in the Android community, but it is far outmatched by the likes of Samsung, Motorola and HTC. Today, the company hopes to change this by announcing the LG G2 -- an interesting new smartphone with an unfortunate ho-hum name.

The most intriguing new aspect of the G2 is something LG calls "Rear Key". Basically, the volume and power buttons have been moved from the side of the device to the rear. This is truly innovative outside-the-box product design -- my mind is officially blown!

Continue reading →

Success on Facebook is as much about the quality of posts as it is about the quantity of posts. Research by Expion into the social network finds that user engagement with brands has declined despite an increase in the number of posts from the top 50 retailers.

The list includes such names as Tiffany & Co, Walmart and Amazon who are responsible for a good deal of the site's ad revenue and the findings go some way to explaining not just why the news feed algorithm has changed, but also why Facebook announced it so publicly.

Continue reading →

In June of 2012 Apple officially shut down MobileMe, migrating customers to iCloud. With storage space now being downgraded, the market apparently seems right to Microsoft to take advantage of cloud customers by offering its own alternative, in the form of SkyDrive -- or the service soon to be formerly known as SkyDrive.

The only official announcement came from the service's official Twitter account, simply asking a question and offering a solution -- "did Apple cancel your extra MobileMe storage? Fwd the downgrade email to HelpMeSkyDrive@outlook.com for an extra 15GB of SkyDrive for 1 year".

Continue reading →

Microsoft Office 365, and its business social platform Yammer, have been steadily finding their way into corporations and government offices in a battle with Google Apps. Now the software giant takes wing across the Atlantic with its latest conquest -- the friendly skies of the United Kingdom.

Today the company announces a deal that brings the applications to International Airline Group (IAG), the parent company of British Airways, Iberia and Vueling.

Continue reading →

HTML5 has become one of the buzzwords for the modern web, with the seeming demise of Flash -- the Adobe app, one of many, that has been under serious attack in recent times. Now Amazon is opening up its App Store to the HTML5 world, allowing for easier development for those wishing to take advantage of the platform.

"Amazon today launched web app support in the Mobile App Distribution Program", the retail giant said in an announcement. "Developers can now submit URLs for their HTML5 web apps and mobile websites and have Amazon offer that content to millions of Kindle Fire and Amazon Appstore customers in the same, convenient way as native apps. Developers can submit and distribute mobile web content without using third party software or doing any native app development, and they can take advantage of Amazon’s In-App Purchasing API for JavaScript, which provides them the option to build sales of digital goods into their apps".

Continue reading →

Vodafone reveals that its 4G network will be made available to mobile users in London on 29 August, with several other key cities being added to the list by the end of the year. SIM-only tariffs, with a 12-month contract, start at £26, matching the cheapest tariff offered by O2.

The mobile firm has teamed up with Spotify and Sky Sports to provide content to subscribers. Anyone signing up for a 4G package will be able to choose between a Spotify Premium or Sky Sports Mobile TV bundle, gaining access to music and live sport. Both bundles are provided free of charge for the first six months, but after this Sky Sports Mobile TV costs £4.99 per month, and Spotify Premium £9.99 per month.

Continue reading →

Throughout the UK internet users are benefiting from accelerating access speeds according to research by Ofcom. The average residential broadband speed now clocks in at 14.7Mbit/s -- around four times the speed back in November 2008 when figures were first published.

Of course, these are average figures, and the majority of web users will find that their actual connection speed is well above or below 14.7Mbit/s. One of the key factors influencing obtainable speed is location. Customers in rural areas were found to have download speeds that were less than half of those enjoyed by customers in urban areas -- 9.9Mbit/s compared to 26.4Mbit/s.

Continue reading →

Microsoft will pull the support plug on Windows XP on April 8 2014. But with only 10 months to go to the deadline as many as 39 percent of enterprises have yet to migrate to another version of Windows, warns services and solutions company ITC Infotech.

Current trends towards BYOD are also making the migration process more complex but businesses need to address the issues in order to future proof their operations.

Continue reading →

Virtual router Connectify Lite 6.0 has been released, boasting a redesigned look, more flexible user interface and new menu bar alongside a random password generator.

Connectify makes it possible for users to turn their computer’s network connection -- wired or wireless -- into a personal Wi-Fi hotspot through their PC’s wireless network adapter. There is also a Pro version with enhanced and exclusive features not found in the free build.

Continue reading →

If you regularly help to troubleshoot PC problems for friends and family then you’ll know that understanding their system setup is a good place to start. This can be a challenge, though, particularly if they’re far away and you can’t get to visit the computer in question.

You could try to get around this by asking the system owner to run particular applets -- Device Manager, say -- and report on what they see. But that will also take a while, so it might be easier for them to install a single tool which can assemble a detailed report on their entire PC setup. And that’s precisely what you’ll get with RegRun Reanimator.

Continue reading →