I use Facebook daily to stay in touch with friends, family and colleagues. However, despite my heavy usage, I am concerned about my privacy. Facebook is notorious for changing its policies and settings and it can be difficult to stay on top of it. Today, popular security and anti-virus company AVG announces a solution called AVG CrowdControl, which the company calls "its first privacy app built on the Facebook API".

"CrowdControl is designed to make Facebook experiences safer by customizing who can view a status, videos and photos posted on a personal timeline. AVG’s goal is that this will make privacy and online security, a more front-of-mind issue for users", says the company.

Where once malware was aimed at disrupting your computer, today it's more likely to be out to steal your personal information and get access to your finances. BullGuard has a track record of guarding against this type of threat with products like Premium Protection 13 its complete security package.

But the company's latest release, BullGuard Identity Protection, is designed to work alongside your existing security suite -- of any brand -- and ensure that your personal information and social networking activities are protected against threats.

Tablets are where the growth is right now, with sales of touch devices eating away at the market share of traditional PCs. But that’s not the only cannibalization going on in the tech world. The iPad mini certainly impacted on sales of the standard-sized iPad upon launch. And with the line between tablets and smartphones becoming increasingly blurred, market analysis firm IDC predicts large-screen (5+ inch) smartphones will start to gnaw away at the smaller (7-8 inch) tablet market from 2014.

"The device world has seen several iterations of cannibalization impacting different categories, with the last few years focused on tablets cannibalizing PC sales," Bob O'Donnell, Program Vice President, Clients and Displays, observes. "Over the next 12-18 months, however, we believe the larger smartphones, commonly called 'phablets', will start to eat into the smaller-size tablet market, contributing to a slower growth rate for tablets".

Content collaboration specialist Huddle has launched its Connected Desktop experience aimed at streamlining team working by linking the desktop with the company's content collaboration system.

Groups of people can work together, editing and saving files from their desktops into a secure cloud. This aids productivity regardless of where workers are located or what type of device they're using. The latest release offers five new capabilities.

Some readers have asked me for a post on the new Apple iPhones announced two days ago. I’ll get to that in time but prefer to do so when I actually have an iPhone 5S in my hands because I have a very specific column in mind. And no, it’s not the column you think it is. But this is still a good time to write something about Apple in general, which is how Cupertino appears to now stand at a crossroads.

There is a world of difference between Microsoft and Apple but one way they are similar is in facing a generational change. Another way they are similar is in having robust legacy businesses that both put a drag on such change (who needs change, we’re doing great!) and make it easy to wait or at least to go slowly. But no matter how much money they have in the bank, each company must eventually come to terms with how it is going to move forward in an evolving market. Neither company has.

Crowdfunding is all the rage nowadays. It feels like not a day goes by without some new venture begging users for money. While many of the products are less than desirable, every once in a while, a gem shines through. Case in point, the Meenova Mini MicroSD Card Reader for Android.

According to the company, "it is just like a SD card reader that you use on your computer, except it is for Android tablets and smartphones that have MicroUSB port. You can use it to read/write MicroSD cards, copy files between your phone/tablet and a MicroSD card".

The launch of Windows 8.1 is right around the corner and, in fact, many of us are already using the next-generation operating system either in Preview or RTM form. Consumers, however, are not the only focus for Windows, and the software maker has taken steps in version 8.1 to ease the transition for business by bringing back the Start button (sort of) and adding a "boot to desktop" mode.

Now the company is adding a new site dedicated to this lofty task of selling to customers who are not only not on Windows 8, but have not even upgraded to Windows 7 from XP. Microsoft announces that "it's a very busy time of year for Microsoft OEM partners as they unveil some of the newest Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 devices".

AT&T finds itself on the receiving end of an internet backlash after tweeting an advertisement for the BlackBerry Z10 that used 9/11 imagery. On the anniversary of the tragedy that saw the Twin Towers fall, the US phone giant posted the ad on Twitter -- the tweet has since been removed -- which featured the Tribute in Light memorial under the heading Never Forget. A similar post was also made on Facebook -- this has too been removed.

The ill-advised marketing move has backfired however. The company's Twitter feed is now filled with vitriolic responses from those sickened by the imagery. Search Twitter for AT&T and there are tweets from thousands of users who can only be described as being seriously pissed and deeply offended. On the BetaNews team, New Yorker Brian said that it was horrible and that he hated it.

When I first switched to OS X, by way of Hackintosh, I was in pure ecstasy. I loved the interface and the beauty of the programs. For instance, iPhoto is the most intuitive and beautiful photo management program that I've ever used. However, while Apple's operating system met most of my needs, I would still find a need for a Windows program on occasion; mostly for business.

I decided to make my desktop a tri-boot machine. In other words, I decided to have it run three operating systems: Windows 8, Fedora 19 and OS X 10.8.4. Rather than play around with partitioning, I plugged three SSDs into my computer, installed the respective operating systems and used the BIOS as the boot manager.

Today, at the Intel Developer Forum, Google and OEM partners unveiled plans to release new Chromebooks using Haswell chips. That means long battery life, on the order of MacBook Air, for a fraction of the price. Six top OEMs will produce Chromebooks, which isn't the best news for Microsoft and Windows 8.1. ASUS and Toshiba join Acer, HP, Lenovo and Samsung.

"Intel’s latest processors consume less power to improve battery life by more than 2X over previous generations, while offering increased performance", Caesar Sengupta, Google's Chromebook product manager, claims. "This means these new Chromebooks can last all day so you can focus on getting things done".

Google faces claims for damages from people who had personal data collected from their wireless networks as the company gathered information for its Street View service. Google had previously claimed that emails, usernames and passwords had been collected unintentionally, but the appeal ruling means that the company is not exempt from liability under the federal Wiretap Act.

Back in 2010, Google admitted that data such as network SSIDs and MAC addresses were collected along with photos. In this blog post the company denied that it pulled "payload data" (essentially the data that is being sent over the networks) but it was later revealed that "Google did indeed collect (and store) this information from unencrypted Wi-Fi networks". A full report is available to read online. Google was required to delete this data, and indeed did so.

Lenovo has been on a roll lately, announcing a plethora of new devices to fit many needs. The company recently announced updates to its business and consumer line of laptops. Today, the company furthers its onslaught by announcing updates to its performance and value line of business ThinkPad laptops.

"Improvements include new user inspired designs and longer battery life while continuing to support full connectivity capabilities that commercial customers depend on. The new performance systems are thinner and lighter devices with clean designs and maintain MIL-SPEC tested ThinkPad durability and reliability", says Lenovo.

Google's unofficial motto has long been 'do no evil' and the company is keen to be seen to stick to it. Jumping into bed with Nestle may have raised a few eyebrows and rattled a few cages, but in a blog post, Richard Salgado, Director of Law Enforcement & Information Security, and Pablo Chavez, Director of Public Policy and Government Affairs show the search giant is eager to stay on the right side of customers.

Google has filed petition in the US Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court asking that they be allowed to publish details of FISA orders. The petition is very similar to others that we have seen in recent months in the wake of the NSA surveillance revelations, and is really just a follow-up to the We Need To Know letter from back in July in which a number of leading companies wrote to, amongst others, President Obama to "urge greater transparency around national security-related requests".

You’ve found some text you need on a web page, and so you copy it to the clipboard, paste it into a document. But now there’s a problem. Not only have you got the text, but it’s also come with links, colors, and a host of other formatting you really didn’t want at all.

If this only happens occasionally then there are a few tedious workarounds you could try (copy the text into Notepad, select and copy the converted plain text to the clipboard). But ClipboardFusion will strip formatting entirely automatically -- and it comes with some other interesting clipboard options, too.

Because there's more to life than books, you know, Google unleashed Music All Access on us back in May of this year, going head-to-head with rivals such as Spotify, Rdio and Pandora, and combining this with all of your own music stored for free on the search giant's servers. My colleague Brian Fagioli called the new service a game-changer and today that contest alters a bit more.

Google is quietly rolling out an update to All Access that enhances the Pandora-like feature in the service. Personalized radio stations allow customers to enter an artist, or multiple ones, to create a station that plays music of the same type. However, for those who would like to simplify this process, Google Music now offers genre stations -- if you wish to listen to just Alternative, well, now you can.