A new Xerox report, The State of Customer Service 2015, reveals that more than half (51 percent) of consumers are comfortable with the idea of buying into a single brand ecosystem for all their technology, communications and media needs.

By 2025, 37 percent believe a single supplier will manage their home.

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Security has long been an issue for Windows users. The sheer number of devices running Microsoft's operating system makes it a prime target for malware and virus attacks. More recently, Apple's computers have increased in popularity and security firm FireEye says that the company will find itself in the crosshairs in 2016.

It's not just Macs and MacBooks that are predicted to become more frequent targets, iOS is also expected to come under attack. FireEye warns that weaknesses have been found in Apple's walled garden, and this could spell danger for users. Symantec is issuing similar warnings, citing Apple's ever-growing user base as the reason.

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Just a few days ago, we heard about the potential for the web-enabled Hello Barbie to provide hackers with personal data. Numerous vulnerabilities open up the potential for data to be stolen, but this could be the start of a worrying trend. If you thought the surveillance activities of the NSA and GCHQ are disturbing, things could be about to get much worse.

There is a movement underway that sees every conceivable device being transformed into a connected device. This is more than just the Internet of Things -- security experts are warning that not only could any devices connected to the internet (including web-enabled toys) could be used to spy on users, placing children at risk.

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Presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton will invest $275 billion over five years on the US infrastructure -- if she's elected, that is. A key part of the plan is to bring "world-class broadband" to every American with a view to increasing competition and equality in the workplace.

While acknowledging the importance of investing in road, rail, and other transport infrastructures, Clinton also wants to invest in the technology of the future. Embracing the Internet of Things, she wants to create "smart cities" that will be filled with connected citizens, businesses, and services, including free Wi-Fi.

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Microsoft’s decision to make Windows 10 a free upgrade means that, according to industry analysts, more than 350 million Windows machines are expected to be on Windows 10 within the next 12 months. This can create a huge gap between enterprise IT teams and employee devices.

While "free" has accelerated the adoption of Windows 10, what truly sets this release apart from others is that Microsoft plans to expand Windows 10 to an unlimited number of devices via the Internet of Things (IoT). IoT is becoming an increasing topic of conversation both in and outside of the workplace, in particular in discussions around how to secure these connected devices.

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The Internet of Things (IoT) isn’t a new concept, but it has gained momentum especially within the last year, as more and more connected devices have come to market. While connecting everything brings added convenience to our everyday lives, it’s crucial to understand what we may be compromising from a security perspective, and importantly, which devices could pose a threat either now or in the future.

With so many connected devices we decided to take a look at those that have made the headlines so far this year. Cars, for instance, have only recently become connected, although they have long been computerized. However, with poor Internet security expertise some manufacturers are being caught out.

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The stats are here: investment bank Goldman Sachs cites the Internet of Things as a $7 trillion opportunity by 2020 -- with IoT set to have an impact at every stage in the production and distribution of products.

Wikibon predicts the value of efficiency savings from machine data alone could reach close to $1.3 trillion and will drive $514 billion in IT spend by 2020. Manish Sablok, head of Field Marketing, North West and East Europe at ALE, looks at the four fundamental network requirements to enable businesses to take full advantage of the transformations that IoT will drive.

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The Internet of Things, or IoT, is the latest rage with more products coming onto the market all the time. It's also become a bit of a target for hacking, though the problem is likely a bit exaggerated. We've recently looked at one of the newest offerings on the market from startup MivaTek, many other players are on the field and one of those is Samsung.

Samsung now has a line it calls SmartThings and it includes an array of products such as outlets, water sensors, security and much more.

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It is being predicted that the ever-growing market of the Internet of Things will support total services spending of $235 billion (£155bn) in 2016. At the same time, the number of connected devices will grow 30 percent year-on-year, reaching 6.4 billion units globally.

But the growth won’t stop there. As a matter of fact, it will speed up, reaching 20.8 billion units by 2020. According to a Gartner report, the professional category will dominate. In it, businesses contract with external providers in order to design, install and operate IoT systems.

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Intel has announced new products in the Xeon processor family, in a move which seeks to boost the Internet of Things industry.

The new products and collaborations will "accelerate the move toward more agile and cloud-ready communications networks that can address today’s demand for new telecommunications, cloud and data centre services and handle tomorrow’s devices and services", the company said.

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Business workstations and thin clients are often boring affairs; however, they do not have to be. There is no reason why such a computer cannot have some sweet technology inside of it.

Today, HP announces the t730 thin client -- an exciting thin client. This svelte machine features a quad-core AMD APU and up to 16GB of RAM. The truly impressive aspect, however, is that it can natively support 4K video out -- HP claims it is the world's first thin client to do so. It features an impressive four full-size DisplayPort connectors. You can even add an AMD Fire Pro W2100 for a total of six Display Ports.

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At ARM TechCon 2015, ARM is unveiling a number of new mbed IoT Device Platform products. Designed to make it easier to deploy IoT devices on a large scale, developers will be able to use mbed Device Connector to build cloud-integrated web apps.

There's also a new build of the mbed OS Technology Preview and together these technologies can be used to connect and securely manage IoT devices. Two new reference designs for industry and wearables have also been released.

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Internet of things devices need a communication standard, a universal type of communication which would allow these devices to communicate, no matter who the maker is. The standard is now also a subject of debate, as US and European makers are backing one type, while Huawei and other vendors are backing another one.

As Lightreading writes in a report, Intel, Ericsson and Nokia are backing Narrow-Band Long-Term Evolution (NB-LTE). At the same time, Huawei is more leaned towards the existing Narrowband Cellular IoT (CIoT) proposal.

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You can't cast a stone these days without hitting something regarding the Internet of Things, be it a product, story or cautionary warning. That last one seems to be the primary focus lately as people worry, in some cases unnecessarily, about the security of the devices being thrust onto the market.

Now one of the big players in the tech game is getting involved as Microsoft joins forces with Pacific Control Systems for an enterprise management system based on Microsoft Azure.

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The Internet of Things can be a mixed blessing. Sometimes all works as planned and sometimes things go terribly awry. Things are getting better, though. The trick is compatibility and we aren't there yet, but things keep improving and moving forward.

Now Samsung is beefing up its line of SmartThings products. This isn't new, but only improved. The company is doubling up its efforts, but others will need to adopt the standard, or any standard for that matter.

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