Latest Technology News

Bilbao, Spain-based Panda Security has released Panda Cloud Antivirus Free 2.2, a major new version of the company’s cloud-based antivirus tool. Version 2.2 adds a number of notable new features, including protection against data theft through malware infection and parental control tools.

The new version also bundles a bootable rescue creation tool and also adds support for access in Safe mode, ensuring it’s more capable of dealing with stubborn malware that proves hard to shift or even cripples the user’s PC entirely.

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Network security specialist Lancope has released the results of a survey showing that 66 percent of large organisations said that either they hadn't experienced a security incident in the last 12-18 months or were unsure if they had.

Businesses face a constant stream of threats from the normal phishing and malware to more sophisticated, targeted attacks. But Tom Cross, Lancope's director of security research, says that it's very unlikely that none of these organisations experienced incidents during that time frame: "Any system you connect to the Internet is going to be targeted by attackers very quickly thereafter. I would assert that if you’re unsure whether or not your organisation has had a security incident, the chances are very high that the answer is yes -- and this is a significant problem".

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Most web pages work just as you expect. You can browse them, left-click here, right-click there, and leave whenever you like -- which is just as it should be.

Other sites aren’t quite so straightforward, unfortunately. They might disable the right-click menu. Prevent you copying text. Maybe even try to stop you leaving a particular page. It’s annoying, but the Firefox add-on RightToClick does at least give you a very effective way to fight back.

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On June 13, 2013,  a coalition of law enforcement, consumer groups and political leaders named “S.O.S” (Secure Our Smartphones), called for a “kill switch” to be installed in every smartphone. The concept of this kill switch is simple -- when a smartphone is stolen, the owner can have the device permanently disabled. Approximately 1.6 million people in the USA had a mobile device stolen in 2012 and a third of all robberies involves a stolen cell phone -- it is a serious problem. The hope is that overall smartphone theft would be reduced as a disabled device would be worthless.

While the concept makes sense from a law enforcement standpoint, the possibility of misuse and abuse is astronomical and threatens our liberty and freedoms. Once the kill switch is built into these devices, we lose a certain level of autonomy. There will be the potential for a government agency (domestic or foreign), corporation or hackers to disable our devices by using this kill switch for evil purposes. In other words: who will control the kill switch?

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Microsoft continues its battle for your retail dollars. Not only has the company set up  store fronts in malls around the country, as well as pop-up locations during this past holiday season, but now seeks other outlets. The software giant is invading your local big box store, announcing custom stores within Best Buy.

The company's Brandon LeBlanc lets us know, "today, we announce a strategic partnership to create the Windows Store only at Best Buy, a comprehensive store-within-a-store in 500 Best Buy locations across the United States and more than 100 Best Buy and Future Shop locations in Canada".

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Great news for British Android lovers. If you’re in the market for a new mobile phone, but money’s a little tight right now, Vodafone’s new own-brand Smart Mini could be just what you’re looking for.

One of the cheapest Android smartphones around, the device is understandably pretty low spec with a 3.5-inch 480 by 320 display, 2-Megapixel camera, 1GHz processor and 4GB of internal storage.

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Today Microsoft announces the general availability of Windows Embedded Compact 2013, a version that is optimized for building small-footprint industry devices. Windows Embedded Compact 2013 includes new tools and capabilities -- including support for Visual Studio 2012 that is designed to further enhance Windows.

According to Microsoft, "the release is the latest generation of one of the smallest and most flexible products in the Windows Embedded portfolio, designed to power devices that need real-time performance and silicon flexibility, with support for x86 and ARM architectures".

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If I worked for Microsoft, and my sole job was to come up with products that divided opinion and alienated many previously loyal users, I reckon I would be due a promotion about now.

While some divisions within Microsoft are doing a great job (Bing and Outlook.com spring to mind), you have to wonder what the bloody hell is going on when the tech giant is able to so badly foul up not only Windows but Xbox too.

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Twitter has released TweetDeck 3.0.2 for Windows, a major new build of its desktop Twitter client. The new release adds support for minimizing the application to the Taskbar Notification area, plus unveils a new layout, followers column and additional search filters.

TweetDeck is designed to make it easier to track real-time conversations as well as monitor specific Twitter feeds or hashtags through the use of a multi-columned layout. Users can also access TweetDeck via their browser using its web-based app, which also recently gained a redesign.

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Subways can be a great way to get around a big city, but of course you have to understand their layout, first. That can be a challenge, particularly if you leave it until the last minute, and are left peering at a huge map on a tiny smartphone screen (that’s if you can get a signal at all). But plan ahead with a little help from qMetro and your life could be very much easier.

An open source tool available for Windows, Linux, OS X and more, qMetro comes bundled with 23 maps covering subways in many big cities: Amsterdam, Beijing, Berlin, Brussels, London, Madrid, Moscow, New York, Paris, Tokyo and others. But if that’s not enough, there are something like 200 maps available online (and in theory, at least, you can even create more yourself).

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Just as with smartphones and tablets, manufacturers look towards developers and enthusiasts to help speed up the adoption of smartwatches. The attractive hardware only gets a wearable so far but companion apps and dedicated software can really open up its appeal towards a larger audience.

But Sony wants to take things one step further. On Thursday, the Japanese maker launched a new project called Open SmartWatch which is designed to "inspire and make it possible" for "advanced developers" to create and run third-party firmware for its SmartWatch. The company takes a similar approach as with the AOSP project for the Xperia Z, by providing the necessary technical information, instructions and software.

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A funny thing happened when I checked my email this morning. I found I had a friend request from Myspace, something I haven’t had for a long time. Even funnier was when I clicked on it Myspace -- or at least Myspace as I knew it -- was gone. In its place was a new sleek, Modern UI meets Spotify, music-based site. A site that doesn't seem to do friend requests anymore either so it's lucky I got that email or I might never have stumbled on it at all (conspiracy theories on a postcard please).

Of course this really shouldn't have come as a surprise, around nine months ago my colleague Wayne Williams reported early news of the update with the headline New Myspace is gorgeous, but who will use it?  Like everyone else though I’d read about a Myspace update and not deemed it worthy of brain space. So suddenly finding myself on the new site -- fresh out of beta -- was a bit of a shock.

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In an effort to beef up the security of its cloud platform, late-yesterday, Microsoft introduced two-step authentication for Windows Azure. The new feature is available through a service called Active Authentication and, according to the software giant, is mostly aimed at enterprises.

"Companies can enable multi-factor authentication for Windows Azure Active Directory identities to help secure access to Office 365, Windows Azure, Windows Intune, Dynamics CRM Online and many other apps that are integrated with Windows Azure AD", says Windows Azure director Sarah Fender. "Developers can also use the Active Authentication SDK to build multi-factor authentication into their custom applications and directories".

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It really doesn’t make any sense for Google to be shutting down such a widely used and cherished feeds subscriber as Google Reader, but the web giant isn’t going to change its mind unfortunately, so we must look towards alternatives that we can adopt.

But with countless options to choose from, where should one even begin looking? An excellent place to start is a website called Readable.cc.

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PlayOn, one of my favorite media apps for my Google TV, today unveils major new updates to its offering. The service is a life-saver for cord-cutters and has somehow managed to avoid lawsuits during its existence, even going so far as to partner with set-top box maker Roku, selling a box with PlayOn pre-installed.

The company first introduces a new service it calls PlayMark. This means, when you are browsing the web on your PC and you come across a cool video that you want to show to your family or friends later on TV, then you can click the PlayMark icon in your browser menu to mark the video. Then continue browsing the web and, later that evening, when you are in front of the TV looking for something to watch and remember that you wanted to show something to your family, you can bring up PlayOn, find the PlayMark folder, click on it and, in a few seconds, you will be watching that same web video you PlayMarked earlier.

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