Although online gambling is essentially illegal in most US states, in the UK it’s both very popular and well-regulated. Facebook has been in discussion with a number of UK-based operators about introducing real-money games to the social network since last summer, and the first of what will likely become a deluge of gambling apps has finally arrived on the site. The new game, from UK-based Gamesys, is called Bingo and Slots Friendzy and will allow British users aged 18 and over (and in possession of a credit card) to play for real cash prizes while chatting with friends. As is the case with most online gambling games in the UK, this one comes with a big cash incentive for new players. Deposit £10 to get £30 to wager.

Commenting on the launch, Facebook’s Head of EMEA Gaming Partnerships, Julien Codorniou, said, "People love playing new types of games with their friends on Facebook and real money gaming is a popular leisure activity in the UK. We’re delighted to be working with Gamesys to enable them to offer their games on Facebook so that people can enjoy playing more games with their friends."

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Acer CEO JT Wang has been quoted as saying Microsoft's Surface could have a negative impact on the Windows ecosystem, frustrate OEMs, and potentially have far-flung negative consequences. Why is there a problem when Microsoft wants to set a standard in both hardware and software? Windows Phone, Surface, and Signature represent a generational shift in Microsoft’s thinking related to operating systems, hardware, and the intended software experience. This is the Microsoft that should surface (no pun intended) from every interaction with one of their products, and who’s to say that’s not a good thing?

When Microsoft announced Surface, I immediately saw great potential for people like me who need advanced software to perform real tasks that require an intensive use of resources. But at the same time, Microsoft Surface gave a glimpse of what’s to come: Microsoft can actually make hardware to its own specifications and design. It is an approach that has been slowly coming to the front with Microsoft which began three years ago, before the debut of the first Windows Phone. Working closely with HTC, Microsoft could make sure the hardware performed in such a way that its software looked better.

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Choice. It’s something that all free people crave. We want the right to choose, whether it’s what we eat, where we live or how we arrange our furniture. Generally speaking, we don’t like being told what to do. Nor do we like it when some impersonal agency imposes its will upon our freedoms.

Case in point: Microsoft’s decision to force users to boot to the Windows 8 Start Screen. Instead of giving us the option (choice) of going directly to the desktop, Microsoft divisional president Steven Sinofsky and friends are saying it’s “their way or the highway”. Any attempts to deviate from their approved usage model will not be tolerated, and if you try to code around us, we’ll shut you down. Period.

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Cloud-based customer service startup Freshdesk on Tuesday announced the availability of the HTML5-based mobile app version of its helpdesk solution called FreshMobile. Like Salesforce's recently launched Desk.com mobile support solution, FreshMobile hooks up with the Freshdesk CRM system and lets agents resolve customer queries from any mobile device.

The idea behind FreshMobile is that it makes mobile support possible while working within the constraints of a mobile device. Freshdesk agents can create, save and reuse canned response templates for replying to tickets from their mobile device. The application also introduces a feature called "Solution Suggest," which uses previous activity to learn the most likely course of action on a given support ticket.

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A new survey released Tuesday by the Chantilly, Virginia-based security and anti-spam company PhishMe has a lot to say about filtering phishing attack emails in the corporate environment. PhishMe conducted a survey at this year's Black Hat hacker conference in Las Vegas, July 24th to the 26th. PhishMe surved 250 security professionals, of whom more than two thirds (69 percent), have said they encounter phishing messages that get past anti-spam filters at least a few times a week. Nearly a quarter of those surveyed say they see multiple phishing emails daily in their corporate network users' mailboxes.

"Phishing" is the name given to a form of an email attack that uses social engineering tactics to lull the recipient into a false sense of security in order for them to click links within the email. The email can have links that look like they go to real sites, but are in fact redirecting Unicode Urls that don't show up properly in most email clients still. The point of these emails is to gather user information though man-in-the-middle style attacks, or to get the user to malicious websites that can execute malicious code, installing viruses or rootkits on a system. A more targeted form of this type of attack is called "Spear Phishing", an email attack in which the phishing emails are targeted to a specific person or group of people, usually people within an organization that shares a common set of information.

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October 26. That will be the release date for Windows 8. The cost of the upgrade will be $39.99. So what do you have to do to get ready for Windows 8?

First, you can upgrade from Windows 7; but you can also upgrade from XP or Vista. But that is not enough. I have covered four of the most pressing questions and answers in Four things you REALLY need to know about Windows 8 upgrades about a month ago, and while it was certainly helpful for many users, it did not address how to check and prepare your system for the actual update.

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The end of July and the beginning of August have seen the release of a number of important apps and updates. If you’ve found it hard to keep to speed with what has been going on in the world of software, this roundup is here to help. SoftMaker FreeOffice 1.0.3340 is a free alternative to Microsoft’s office suite that is capable of producing Office compatible documents as well as PDFs. The news that Windows 8 has been released to manufacturers has rekindled interest in all things Metro, and Immersive Explorer 0.1.1 Alpha extends the look and feel of the Windows 8 Start menu into a fledgling replacement for Windows Explorer. If you’re more interested in storing your documents in the cloud, Google Drive 1.3.3209 has been updated, providing you with access to several gigabytes of free online storage and the ability to sync with your computer. While you’re online, you may well visit Facebook from time to time, and Facebook Messenger for Windows 2.1.4590.0 is a handy free tool that can be used to chat with contacts, monitor status updates and more all from a neat sidebar on your desktop.

Regardless of whether you have a Netgear router or not NETGEAR Genie 2.2.26.50 can be used to take care of it. NETGEAR Genie 2.0.25 (mobile version) is always available so you can use your Android or iOS mobile to perform tasks such as controlling your media and running speed tests. To make your life online easier, you need a decent web browser, and Opera 12.01 FINAL and Opera 12.01 FINAL 64-bit have both been released, with improved performance and better HTML5 support. If you’re more of a Google fans, Google Chrome 21 FINAL and Google Chrome 21 Portable provide you with everything you need including an all-new API for high-quality video and audio communication.

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Gestures are where it's at these days, with the Kinect add-on for Xbox 360 and the motion controls of the Wii allowing for direct interaction with games and other software. Even mobile devices such as Android and iOS phones and tablets are making greater use of gestures rather than just for menus and buttons. Touchscreen displays for Mac and PC make gesture interfaces possible in Windows and OS X, but Flutter enables you to use your webcam to interact using gestures.

As you can tell from the version number (currently 0.1.185), this is a very early version of the software and things are a little limited at the moment – but that’s not to say that it is not still worth taking a look at. At the moment, Flutter can be used to control your media player, enabling you to use basic hand gestures to start and pause music or video playback.

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Apple's divorce from Google is nearly complete: say goodbye to the native YouTube app. The change came within iOS 6 Beta 4 which released to testers on Monday. The reasons for the move are unclear: little was said other than the license to carry YouTube in iOS had expired.

Monday's news follows Apple's decision to dump Google Maps in favor of its own in-house solution. As competition heated up in the smartphone sector and Google's Android gained more market share, the two companies have begun to distance themselves from one another.

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While the focus on Apple's next big thing has surrounded the likely release of the iPhone 5 next month, the Cupertino, Calif. company's decision to change the dock connector may affect its entire product line, a new report claims.

Rene Ritchie at iMore says sources told the publication that the entire iOS device lineup will receive a refresh when the iPhone 5 launches, rumored to occur on September 12. The report claims that date will see a refreshed iPad, new iPod nano and iPod touches, the iPhone 5, and even the debut of the 7-inch iPad.

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We've heard a handful of complaints about Google's Nexus 7 screen dimming and flickering, but they pale in comparison to this story from New York tech industry professional Ed Zitron, who is currently dwelling in Nexus 7 support hell.

I was really excited about the Nexus 7, for just two hundred dollars I could get a device that I could sling in my bag, play with, enjoy mindlessly and then put away --a nicety, a frivolity, something enjoyable and cheap that I wouldn’t worry about.

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Nuance Communications, Inc., the company known for Dragon Naturally Speaking dictation software, the Swype virtual keyboard, and T9 text completion has just announced its very own digital mobile assistant platform named Nina.

Nuance, who also contributed behind the scenes to Apple's Siri, is taking a different approach with Nina. Nina will be released as a global speech-based virtual assistant for both iOS and Android mobile apps, and will also come with a Virtual Assistant SDK.

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If there is one thing that’s typical of Twitter, it's the long, long, long list of tweets that shows each of your Twitter friends' er…tweets. Slices for Twitter by OneLouder Apps is designed to make your Twitter experience better by adding "Twitter Content Discovery." Simply put, it provides improved functionality over the official Twitter app.

Slices for Twitter comes with five major features: Twitter Directory, Live Events, Timeline Slicer, Bookmarks and Mobile-to-Web.

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Back in July, Microsoft engineer Aaron Stebner released a new version of his .NET Framework Setup Verification tool, a handy troubleshooting utility which can quickly tell you whether a particular .NET edition is installed and set up correctly.

And Stebner has followed up this up with an upgrade of his companion program, the .NET Framework Cleanup Tool. As the name suggests, this can fully remove a specified edition of .NET from your PC – files, folders, Registry entries, everything – and the new edition works with both .NET Framework 4.5 and Windows 8.

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According to Google's recent earnings report, the Mountain View search company has $43 billion in cash reserves. I'm no business expert, but that number seems unreasonably high and I think Google should use some of that money. Some have said that Google has run out of ideas, so to alleviate the situation here are a few ideas:

Sprint Nextel Corporation, Cost: $13 Billion
Sprint isn't the smallest of the four main carriers in the U.S. but it would still be a great way for Google to get its foot in the door. Just imagine what Google could do with a carrier, Android phones could be subsidized into oblivion, phones would at last be updated, no more bloatware, full Google Voice integration, and if Google really wanted to do no evil then every phone they sold would be unlocked. There is also this to consider, Sprint carries the iPhone, so Google and Apple would be in an interesting situation, but Google could play this to their advantage, as they say “know thine enemy.”

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