Apple iPhone 6 Plus: Beautifully made, but expensive [Review]
Here it is, then, the iPhone 6 Plus. Apple's biggest handset to date, and a competitor for all those phablets that some people swear are the perfect device for them. It's big, it's bold, it's beautifully made. Does it do enough to justify its exorbitant price? My review sample came from Three in the UK, from whom you can get the iPhone 6 Plus in any of its three colors -- gold, silver or gray -- in its 16GB variant starting from £44 a month. At that price there's a £99 up-front price for the handset.
Other operators also sell it, of course, and if you want to go SIM free you are looking at £619/$749 for the 16GB version, £699/$849 for the 64GB and £789/$949 for the 128GB. That's a lot of money, and there are plenty of other large-screened handsets that will cost you much less.
Dropbox passwords held to ransom after third-party leak
Hackers claim to have stolen the login details of almost seven million Dropbox users. Having released a teaser file on Pastebin with details of around 400 accounts they’re offering to release more in exchange for a Bitcoin ransom.
Like the Snapchat photo leak it seems that this information has come from insecure third-party services rather than from Dropbox itself.
Firefox 33 reveals performance tweaks, search improvements, more robust session restore
Mozilla has released Firefox 33.0 FINAL for desktop, with Firefox for Android 33.0 due to follow in the coming days.
Like the previous release, the desktop build of Firefox 33 boasts no major new features, but its Android counterpart gains vastly improved tab management tools as well as the ability to send videos to both Chromecast and Roku devices.
Malwarebytes Anti-Malware improves multitasking, adds keyboard navigation support
Malwarebytes Corporation has released Malwarebytes Anti-Malware 2.03, a significant update for its anti-malware tool.
A new option to run scans at a lower priority (Settings > Advanced Settings > "Reduce priority…") may reduce their impact on other applications. This is a good idea in principle, although we noticed it had no effect whatsoever on our test system, with both process and I/O priorities remained stubbornly unchanged.
Apple's iPhone 6 and 6 Plus heading to 36 more countries by the end of the month
Apple is boasting that it is conducting its fastest ever rollout of a smartphone, with the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus set to arrive in 36 more countries during October.
That will mean the devices are available in a total of 69 countries come the end of October -- though consumers are still having a tough time getting hold of the phablet version, with the maximum three to four week wait listed at Apple's UK online store currently.
Verizon Fios soars to the top of Netflix monthly ISP report
Each and every month video provider Netflix issues a report on ISPs and makes no bones about who's good and who isn't. Honestly, the company has no choice -- its business rides on these speeds and it is not shy about reporting them.
September has been released, and there are some surprises and some not shocking disappointments. First, Verizon Fios flew to the top, averaging 3.17 MB per download. Not bad at all for the customers out there.
Want the Windows 10 look? Install the Windows 10 UX Pack or Windows 10 Transformation Pack
WindowsX has released the Windows 10 UX Pack 1.0 and Windows 10 Transformation Pack 1.0, tools that skin Windows and -- in the case of the Transformation Pack -- patch system files to provide a look and feel that’s close to the current preview version of Windows 10.
Of the two, the UX Pack is the preferred choice for those running Windows 7 or later, as it makes changes without patching system files; however, the Transformation Pack does work with Vista and XP as well as later versions of Windows.
WordPress sites are a massive draw for hackers
According to research by Imperva, WordPress websites were attacked 24.1 percent more often than websites running on all other CMS platforms combined.
WordPress websites suffer 60 percent more XSS incidents than all other CMS platforms, and the research found that while WordPress is more likely to suffer fewer numbers of incidents for each attack type, it also suffers a higher traffic volume for each attack type.
Google lists the top 10 Halloween costumes -- who or what are you dressing up as?
October is one of my favorite months; I get to wear a hoodie, drink pumpkin spice lattes (PSLs) from Starbucks and enjoy Halloween. Sure, I am far too old to trick or treat, but that does not mean that I can't get into the holiday spirit. I go pumpkin picking, carve jack-o'-lanterns, and give out candy to kids that come to my door.
When I was a young man, I did dress up for Halloween, but we were usually too poor to actually buy costumes. I recall one year that I dressed up as a SilverHawk, a popular cartoon in the 80s. My mom put aluminum foil on my head and sent me out with a pillow case for candy. In hindsight, I probably looked insane, but in my mind, I was a SilverHawk. Today, Google announces the top 10 Halloween costumes as per search trends.
1 million people are trying Windows 10 Technical Preview, and a new build is on its way
Microsoft released the Windows 10 Technical Preview a fortnight ago, inviting testers to participate in the Windows Insider Program and help the company build a better operating system.
In two weeks, over a million people have apparently signed up to try out the new OS, and according to Microsoft, the tech giant has received over 200,000 pieces of user-initiated feedback to date via the built-in Windows Feedback app. You can see a rough breakdown of the top feedback received so far here. Microsoft also revealed some genuinely interesting information regarding how people are running the OS.
Acer Chromebox CXI -- small package, largely satisfying [Review]
Everybody has different needs, so it is impossible to say one operating system is better than another. Sure, you can state which OS is best for you, but someone else may have a difference in opinion. In other words, whether you think Windows, OS X, Chrome OS or any Linux distro is the best operating system, you are right.
While I prefer Windows for heavy lifting, I use my Chromebook regularly for light use, such as writing, and trips to Starbucks. Unfortunately, Chrome OS has become synonymous with low-cost and portability, causing people to discount it for home desktop use. Actually, there is a segment of Chrome devices called Chromeboxes that are designed for the desktop and can excel at many things. Today, I am looking at the Acer Chromebox CXI (4GKM) to see how it performs as a home desktop PC.
IBM's Power8 servers are less than meets the eye
Two weeks ago IBM told the IT world it was taking on Intel in the battle for server chips with new Power8 processors incorporating advanced interconnection and GPU technology from NVIDIA. This followed an announcement earlier in the year that Google was using Power8 processors in some of its homemade servers. All this bodes well for IBM’s chip unit, right?
Not so fast.
Three ways to repair a malware-damaged PC
Malware causes all kinds of PC problems, and they don’t always go away once the threat has been removed. You might still find you can’t run certain programs, web browsers don’t work properly, there are network issues, and more.
You can’t simply turn to System Restore or your last backup, either: restoring old files might reinfect your PC, and make your problems even worse.
How developers can build apps quickly, without writing any code
Recently, LV=, a UK insurer, built a broker workflow app that combined three processes on three systems into one application with an automated tracking and reporting feature. Given the complexity, you might guess that the project took a large team of highly skilled developers months to complete. But here's the thing: two developers built the production-ready app in just one week -- without writing a single line of code!
Enter the power of a low-code development platform. The term has been gaining traction in the market to categorize platforms for rapidly building and deploying custom apps without the need for low-level coding. This is made possible through visual development tools where users can easily define the various elements of an application (database, application and process logic, user interface, security, etc.). Other common features include an App Store with reusable templates, widgets and components to further accelerate productivity, as well as social collaboration, enterprise integration and one-click deployment.
Microsoft rocks the vote -- Bing Elections helps voters stay informed
One of the greatest benefits of living in a free country such as the USA is the ability to vote. Even in this country, we aren't far removed from a time where women and non-whites were not allowed to vote -- an embarrassment. With that said, a bigger embarrassment is people that do not vote at all. Don't get me wrong, people have the right not to vote, and it is sometimes discouraging to always choose the lesser of two evils, but when you think of the people that fought and died for your right to vote, it is almost a slap in their face to not do it.
If you don't feel you have enough knowledge about the candidates, that is understandable; there are far too many distractions, such as Walking Dead, Twitter and working very long hours. Between work and media consumption, there just is not enough time to research election details. Today, Microsoft wants to make it easier for people to learn about the election with the all-new Bing Elections; a one-stop hub of information.
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