Latest Technology News

With the UK having recently brought the Online Safety Act into force, age verification laws are having a huge effect on traffic to web sites. Predictably, sites which comply with age verification requirements have noticed a marked drop-off in visitor numbers, while the opposite is true for non-compliant sites.

In the UK, it is – currently – only pornographic sites that are supposed to implement age verification (although other sites are supposed to take action to prevent minors from accessing adult material as well). Working via a combination of facial scans and documentation checks, the impact of the law has been felt very quickly.

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Linux Lite has released version 7.6, an update to the superb Ubuntu-based distribution aimed at Windows users seeking a simple Linux alternative. If you’re using aging hardware or just fed up with Windows 11, this might be the lightweight Linux distro you’ve been waiting for.

Arriving as Microsoft moves toward ending Windows 10 support, the release introduces a new community-driven Wiki for documentation alongside updates to default applications and desktop tools.

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WhatsApp has addressed a serious security flaw in certain versions of its app. The vulnerability was a zero-click exploit, which the company says was being used to target specific users.

No details have been provided about those who were being targeted, so it is not clear whether they are celebrities, people linked to businesses, or something else. What is interesting, however, is the fact that it was Apple users who had been single out.

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If you have more than one Android device, you have probably used the Google Play Store to install apps on a device other than the one in your hand. The ability to ‘remotely’ install apps in this way is a great time saver, and Google is expanding the management features available to users.

If you can install an app on not only the device in front of you but also another linked to your account, why not uninstall it in the same way? Technically, you can, but Google has made it so awkward that it puts most people off – until now.

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With cyber threats becoming more numerous and ever more sophisticated, it’s becoming more critical than ever for organizations to prioritize targeted threats, optimize their existing defensive capabilities and proactively reduce their exposure.

One-time security assessments are looking increasingly inadequate. We spoke to CyberProof CEO Tony Velleca to discuss how organizations can effectively implement a Continuous Threat Exposure Management (CTEM) strategy to improve their protection.

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Microsoft is of the opinion that Windows 11 25H2 – the next big update for Windows 11 – is ready for public consumption. Although the update has not yet been given a full, formal release, it is now available as a public preview.

This means that Windows Insiders signed up to the Release Preview channel. However, Microsoft is yet to confirm just when the update will be made available to everyone. At the moment the company is not being any more specific than referring to “general availability later this calendar year”.

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Wine has released version 10.14 of its popular compatibility layer which makes it easy to run Windows applications on Linux. The update includes an upgraded vkd3d library, now at version 1.17, an updated Mono engine at version 10.2.0, IPv6 ping support, Gitlab CI running on Debian Trixie, and a set of bug fixes.

Wine takes its name from the recursive acronym “Wine Is Not an Emulator,” because although it may seem like it emulates Windows, it actually translates Windows system calls directly into Linux ones. This allows many Windows apps, including games and productivity software, to run almost as smoothly on a Linux OS as they would on Microsoft’s own operating system.

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Instagram has a handful of updates to explore – some available to everyone, others in testing with a smaller group. First up there are updates to the handling of DMs, something Instagram is billing as being aimed at creators.

While creators’ inboxes are likely to be busier than the average person, everyone can use the new DM tools which provide new ways to sort and filter messages. Another exciting development sees the testing of picture-in-picture video mode for viewing Reels.

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Windows 10 is edging ever nearer towards the end of its support period, which means no more security patches or updates for millions of PCs. Users will either need to run their systems without protection or upgrade to Windows 11, which has more demanding hardware requirements.

For many older laptops and desktops, Windows 11 is not an option, and this is where Linuxfx comes in. Just updated to version 11.25.09 “NOBLE”, the latest version of the Windows-style Linux distribution offers a familiar environment that runs faster on aging machines.

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Wearable devices have brought us numerous benefits in recent years, allowing us to understand our health and fitness level better and encouraging a more active lifestyle. But are they also putting our privacy at risk?

A new report from vpnMentor takes a look into what information wearable devices are collecting. It also investigates how that data is being used, shared and, in some cases, monetized.

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Even as we shift to other forms of authentication, passwords aren't going away anytime soon. New research from Peec AI has analyzed over 100 million leaked passwords to uncover the most common words and phrases used, which also of course are the ones most likely to get your account compromised.

There are some interesting findings. Names are still a popular choice with ‘Michael’ one of the most commonly used as a password, included in 107,678 of those analyzed. ‘Daniel’ is the second most used name, with a count of 99,399 passwords. Other popular choices include ‘Ashley’, ‘Jessica’, ‘Charlie’, ‘Jordan’ and ‘Michelle’.

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The security operations center (SOC) has long relied on traditional SOAR platforms to manage incidents, but today’s threat landscape is moving too fast for rigid, static approaches. As attackers use AI to evolve their tactics, security teams need smarter, more adaptive systems to keep up.

We spoke to Tom Findling, co-founder and CEO of Conifers.ai, about how AI-powered SOC platforms are helping organizations scale their defenses, improve threat detection, and move from reactive alert management to proactive risk reduction.

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Alibaba has released a new open-source speech-to-video model capable of generating animated digital humans from a single portrait and an audio clip. The tool is aimed at content creators and researchers who are looking for a way to produce lifelike avatars capable of speaking, singing, or performing.

The Wan2.2-S2V release builds on Alibaba’s Wan2.2 video generation series. By becoming open-source, the company is offering developers a system that can animate portraits across different perspectives including close-up, bust, and full-body shots.

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When you install an app, the chances are that you’re going to want to fire up straight away. To help with this, Google is in the process of rolling out a handy auto-open feature to Android users.

If this sounds familiar, that is because it is something Google was spotted working on back in the second half of last year. You would have been forgiven for thinking that the company had forgotten about it, but the auto-open toggle is back.

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Out of the blue, Typepad has announced that it is closing down. The stalwart blogging service says it was a "difficult decision to discontinue” operations, but does not give any details about the reasons behind it.

Users of Typepad have a little over a month until the service is gone forever, and anyone who would like to preserve their writing is urged to export their content.

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