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Cloudflare received a national security letter (NSL) from the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) back in February 2013, its transparency report for 2016 has shown, with the company only now able to report the event after being placed under a gag order. The FBI had been seeking the names, addresses, length of service, electronic communications transactional records, transaction and activity logs, and all email header […]

When it comes to web browsers, Chrome is on top, Safari is second, and once-dominant IE is now far back in third. For over a decade, Internet Explorer (IE), thanks to Microsoft’s illegal crushing of Netscape, ruled the web browser field. Competitors, such as Mozilla Firefox, made runs at IE, but they barely dented IE’s lead. Then came Google Chrome in 2008, and in short order, IE […]

To address criticism from regulators and public policy groups, Microsoft is making some changes in its privacy practices. Of all the body blows Microsoft has absorbed in the past 18 months over Windows 10, the criticisms of its privacy policies have to sting the most. Last summer, the French National Data Protection Commission (CNIL) issued a formal notice against Microsoft, ordering that the company “stop collecting excessive […]

Over the past few years, a new tradition has emerged, the Holiday DDoS Attack. While distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks happen throughout the year, some of the highest profile attacks occur during the holidays, when the most users will be impacted. Attackers may target online shopping sites to disrupt pre-holiday gift buying. Or they may attack voice over IP services, like Skype, which are used to […]

Rackspace’s senior vice president Jeff Cotten has been promoted to president, the managed cloud company announced Tuesday. Cotten will take on the new role starting February 1. Cotten wil reported directly to CEO Taylor Rhodes, leading Rackspace’s global sales teams and the international business unit. He’ll also oversee Rackspace’s fastest growing new lines of business, including Fanatical Support for AWS and Rackspace Managed Security. Rackspace executive vice […]

After attending last year’s Detroit Auto Show, I wrote that CES can’t replace traditional auto shows just yet. But after spending the last few days at CES in Las Vegas, I’m ready to reverse that position (somewhat). At CES 2017, a critical mass of auto makers and major suppliers unveiled several new concepts, a ton of new technology, and arguably stole the show from traditional […]

Popular first-person shooter game Halo nearly got a kid-friendly version called Mega Bloks Halo, also initially called by n-Space, its developer, as Haggar. Its development has been unceremoniously stopped on its tracks and a recently leaked video has provided the reason, along with other insights about the title. Developer Trouble And Xbox One Launch In a video footage posted at YouTube, game historian Andrew Borman explained that n-Space, has […]

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Attackers claim to hold a copy of the data that can be restored for between 0.2BTC and 1BTC, but there’s no guarantee it’s actually available. Image: Victor Gevers/Twitter Tens of thousands of poorly-configured MongoDB databases have been compromised over the past week, with attackers wiping data and demanding up to one bitcoin to return it. Victor Gevers, from Netherlands-based GDI Foundation, and Niall Merrigan, a Norway-based developer, […]

Mere weeks after Waymo became a company independent from Google’s X, it has already released an updated version of its automated driving system. The technology, which was announced Jan. 8 at the on-going North American International Auto Show, will hit the roads onboard a fleet of Chrysler Pacifica minivans. Latest Waymo Improvements The new development came from John Krafcik, Waymo’s CEO and involves two important points. The first is […]

The malware opens emails until the system crashes. Image: Malwarebytes A tech support scam is targeting Mac users with unusual malware which tries to crash the system then encourages the victim to call a phony Apple support number in order to get the system restored to normal. Victims are infected with the malware via a malicious email or by visiting a specially registered scam website. Cybersecurity researchers […]

The unveiled Fiat Chrysler Portal Concept car during the Fiat Chrysler press conference at the 2017 Consumer Electronics Show (CES2017) in Las Vegas The car of the future doesn’t just want to drive you. It wants to know you. The automotive technology showcased at the Consumer Electronics Show over the past week was in part about self-driving vehicles, but also about personalizing the driving experience. Artificial […]

Uncover some of the cool new features hidden in iOS 10. It’s been nearly 10 years since I camped out in the rain to purchase the original Apple iPhone. We’ve seen the iPhone go from a MP3 player feature phone to a full blown handheld computer that is finding its way throughout the enterprise market. At my engineering consulting firm, we have a BYOD policy with IT […]

HELSINKI HMD Global, the Finnish company that owns the rights to use Nokia’s brand on mobile phones, announced on Sunday its first smartphone, targeted for Chinese users with a price of 1,699 yuan ($246). The launch marks the first new smartphone carrying the iconic handset name since 2014 when Nokia Oyj (NOKIA.HE) chose to sell its entire handset unit to Microsoft (MSFT.O). The new device, Nokia 6, […]

Russia has demanded Apple and Google to take down the app of LinkedIn, the professional social networking website that was blocked in the country last year, from local app stores. The move mirrors China’s request for Apple to remove apps by The New York Times from the country’s App Store. LinkedIn Taken Down From App Stores In Russia Smartphones users in Russia, whether they are using iOS or Android […]

HMD Global is launching the first Nokia smartphone since the Finnish-based company was sold to Microsoft in 2014, after securing exclusive rights to the Nokia brand. The 5.5-inch Nokia 6 will launch in early 2017, HMD Global announced on Saturday. It will only be available in China, as HMD said “it seeks to to meet the real world needs of consumers in different markets around the world.” […]

To understand the Xperia XZ, you need to understand the genesis of its name, and therefore the weird rollercoaster ride that has been Sony’s Xperia line of phones in recent years. In February 2016, the Japanese electronics behemoth announced that its flagship Z-line of Xperia phones had ended, and in its place would be the more mainstream X-line of devices. Essentially, this meant that Sony was going […]

Apple’s iPad Pro 2 is expected to come in three models this year, ready to go head to head with the powerful Microsoft Surface Pro 4. The iPad Pro is currently available in 9.7- and 12.9-inch configurations and it’s Apple’s most powerful tablet so far. The two iPad Pro models are widely considered to be among the best tablets on the market, but they’re due for a […]

Alexa made its debut as the heart of the Amazon Echo—a family of internet-connected speakers that answer questions, run apps, and let people get weather reports or order goods on Amazon Amazon’s virtual assistant Alexa is emerging as one of the big winners at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show, cropping up in TVs, cars, fridges—you name it—in what may signal a breakthrough moment for the smart technology. […]

Each quarter Credit Suisse’s U.S. Equity Strategy team, led by Lori Calvasina, takes a deep dive into the stock level holdings of long-only, actively managed small, SMID, mid & large cap funds to see which stocks officially qualify as the most crowded trades on wall street.  While the results obviously vary across the size categories, Tech, Healthcare and Financials seemed to be recurring themes for the most […]

Remember the Surface Studio that recently made quite a splash for introducing several new ways in interacting with our desktops? Well, Dell also has one and you may be sure that the company is showing it off at CES 2017. Dell Canvas vs. Surface Studio Simply called as Dell Canvas, it is also a touchscreen device that can pair excellently with a stylus and the Totem, Dell’s own […]

News flash: In 2017, Microsoft Connected Car is now known as Microsoft Connected Vehicle. Otherwise, Microsoft’s automotive strategy remains the same as it was in 2016. Credit: Microsoft Last year, Microsoft execs made it clear that embedding some variant of Windows inside a car is not what Microsoft officials believe to be important — or, more importantly, something they could attain. Last year at CES, Microsoft execs […]

The long wait is over after Samsung finally unveiled two brand new Chromebooks that were made in partnership with Google at CES 2017. The two Chromebooks could very well be the two laptops that will expand Samsung’s user base in the hybrid laptop space, and will compete against Microsoft’s Surface hybrids: the Surface Book and Surface Pro 4. All four devices will be great options for people who are […]

There are two things Microsoft can do with LinkedIn. One is leave it alone. The other comes more naturally. Microsoft’s $26.2 billion acquisition of LinkedIn seems like a stab in the dark; an effort to get Microsoft Dynamics 360 CRM off the ground by adding a social network. But really, it just kept Salesforce from buying LinkedIn. For some reason […]

Amazon’s Alexa is the brain of its Echo and digital assistant efforts, and the company is rapidly beginning to distribute the technology into other products. At the Consumer Electronics Show 2017, it’s clear that Amazon aims to put Alexa everywhere. Google will also look to embed its Google Assistant everywhere too — in Hyundai cars for instance — but Amazon is quickly forging pacts with big-name tech […]

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