Symantec tells users to stop using pcAnywhere amid security breach
It's not often when a developer tells you outright not to use its software, but that is exactly what Symantec is forced to do in light of the theft of source code. Last month, Hacktavist group Anonymous bragged that it had possession of code that powers several applications, including Norton Antivirus Corporate Edition, Norton Internet Security; Norton SystemWorks and pcAnywhere.
Symantec says the code theft originally occurred in 2006. While at first security experts believed the theft to only be a black eye for the company's reputation, it now appears that the incident is far more serious. Symantec recommends users of pcAnywhere stop using the software immediately until there is a solution to address any security concerns.
Motorola hopes a ridiculously big battery will improve Droid Razr
Last October, Motorola Mobility unveiled the 4G Droid Razr, the Android-powered smartphone that combined Motorola's strongest phone brand names in a single device. When the device went up for sale in November, it faced some negative reviews because of its weak battery life.
To remedy this, Motorola today released the Droid Razr Maxx, which is essentially the Droid Razr with a much bigger battery.
iPad share plunges as Android tablets make dramatic gains
Do I have your attention yet? Apple fans needn't worry, iPad has considerable lead over Android tablets. iPad global market share, as measured by mobile operating system, fell to 57.6 percent in fourth quarter from 68.2 percent a year earlier, according to Strategy Analytics. Meanwhile, Android tablets rose to 39.1 percent from 29 percent. Something else: Windows climbed from zero to 1.5 percent, and that's without tablet-optimized Windows 8.
Despite popular convention that people only want iPad, clearly somebody is buying Android. Strategy Analytics doesn't break down the numbers by vendor, but there's reason to ask about one. Amazon. For months there has been oft-asked question: Would $199 Kindle Fire cut into iPad sales? Last month, Amazon said that it sold over 4 million Kindles in December, but wouldn't specify how many were tablets. "Apple shrugged off the much-hyped threat from entry-level Android models this quarter", Peter King, Strategy Analytics director, says. Perhaps that's answer enough.
Microsoft, don't forget about Desktop Player -- we haven't
If you’re looking for advanced, low-level information on Microsoft technologies then it’ll probably be somewhere on Microsoft.com. But where, exactly? MSDN? Technet? One of the hundreds of team blogs? Somewhere else entirely?
Microsoft’s Desktop Player (a beta, but it seemed stable to us) aims to remove this uncertainty by providing a simple desktop client where you can enter your search query, discover related podcasts and webcasts, and even play the ones you need with a click.
CCleaner 3.15 improves like a well-aged wine
Popular system cleanup and optimization tool CCleaner has been updated with a range of improvements and a smattering of new features. CCleaner 3.15 sees support for the cleaning of a range of new applications including Freemake Video Downloader, Camtasia Studio and Ashampoo Burning Studio. As you would expect from any app update there are also a number of bug fixes as well as a small range of additional options.
In terms of new features, you will find that there is newly added support for Chrome Canary, including the ability to clear search data from the omnibox. The ability to remove items from the Recycle Bin is nothing new, but there is a new option to filter Recycle Bin deletion to only those files that were added more than 24 hours ago. This is a useful way to claw back a few extra megabytes of space while retaining the option of restoring some of the files you have deleted.
Investors to Netflix CEO Reed Hastings: 'We forgive you' a little
All is forgiven when there's money to be made. That's the message investors delivered Netflix CEO Reed Hastings today. Shares rallied after yesterday's earnings report, which partly validated summer's controversial streaming and DVD rental strategies that sent the stock plunging several times and led to calls for Hastings' removal or resignation. That was oh-so six months ago, which is a lifetime in the memory of an investor.
Shares rose more than 23 percent in early trading -- to $117.12. Netflix closed at $95 yesterday and opened at $114. The price reached $118.78 soon after the opening bell. As I write, shares are bobbing -- now only up 22 percent. Shareholder forgiveness doesn't vanquish Hastings' sins, however. Netflix peaked at $304 on July 13, the day after notifying subscribers of price increases. There remains tremendous share value yet to recover, which is unlikely to come from today's rally.
Grab entire websites with HTTrack
Putting information on the web is supposed to make it more convenient to access, but of course it doesn’t always work out that way. Especially if you’re accessing a site that is incredibly slow, for instance. Or you’re trying to download content that is spread all around the site, like multiple zip files, one each across many pages.
You may not have to put up with these inconveniences, though -- not if you’ve a copy of HTTrack to hand, as the program will automatically download the site you specify for easy reference later.
AT&T and Verizon account for nearly one-third of iPhone sales
This morning, before the opening bell, AT&T announced calendar fourth-quarter earnings and record iPhone sales -- 7.6 million. Combined with Verizon's number that works out to 32 percent of iPhones sold during the quarter. Sprint will announce earnings results on February 2, conceivably pushing the number close to 40 percent. Apple CEO Tim Cook has called China Apple's second-most important market. Want to guess which is first?
For AT&T, iPhone was huge during fourth quarter. The carrier sold 9.4 million smartphones, and 80.5 percent of them were iPhones. The number was smaller, but still substantial, for Verizon: 54.4 percent. While Android sales paled by comparison, AT&T doubled them year over year -- not surprising with Samsung's aggressive marketing campaign for Galaxy S II and mid-quarter's introduction of LTE models HTC Vivid and Galaxy S II Skyrocket.
Why do smartphone owners buy tablets?
For a company which business depends on collecting data, Google sure was slow tabulating its report on smartphone usage. The study is available today, but the data is already outdated given strong holiday e-book reader and tablet sales and global impact of 37 million iPhones sold during fourth quarter -- the startling number Apple released yesterday. Still there are some fascinating trends here that likely will prove true had Google collected data in December or January rather than September-October.
What I find perplexing: 17 percent of US smartphone owners also have tablets -- 11 percent in Japan, 10 percent in United Kingdom and 8 percent each in France and Germany. Note: This data, as the rest, is for smartphones privately used. The percentages likely would be higher when including business use, and the trend is accelerating, says Google. My question, and this is really for you to answer: Why buy a tablet if you have a smartphone? Remember, Google isn't tracking PC owners who buy a tablet, but smartphones users who do.
HP's open source webOS embraces Android, iOS
Hewlett-Packard announced on Wednesday that it has begun the great open-sourcing of mobile operating system webOS with the release of the Enyo 2.0 core application framework.
Just a little over one month ago, HP announced it would be turning over webOS software development to the community, and open sourcing its components while participating in the project as an investor and controlling interest.
What are the top domains used for spam?
It's likely that most will expect domains belonging to popular web-based e-mail services are at the top of the list for the mountains of spam we receive everyday. That's not the case: the most common spam domains according to Chelmsford, Mass.-based security firm AVG are social networks.
Facebook tops the list at 7.3 percent, followed by Twitter at 4.2 percent. Considering these are the top two social networking sites, that's not too surprising. How about Google+? Hard to say since it doesn't have its own domain, nor did google.com appear in the list AVG supplied us. LinkedIn also appears, but way down in eighth at 1.5 percent of all spam.
The top-10 web security threats you should avoid
The compromised website is still the most effective attack vector for hackers to install malware on your computer with 47.6 percent of all malware installs occurring in that manner, says security firm AVG. Another 10.6 percent are tricked into downloading exploit code -- many times, without their knowledge -- by clicking on links on pages to sites hosting malware.
The Chelmsford, Mass. company announced its findings as part of a broader study of threats detected by its software. It also found that faked pharmacy sites are a popular attack method, seen in about 10.4 percent of all attacks.
Kingsoft Office 4.3 for Android mini-review
There are a number of tools that computer users will install by default on their Mac or PC -- an email client, web browser, media player and an office suite. Make the move to a mobile platform such as iOS or Android and the range of apps you need changes slightly. Most phones and tablets will comes with a number of apps pre-installed including a calendar, messaging tool, web browser and various other tools. One thing that is generally left out of the mix is a mobile office suite.
There are plenty of suites to choose from, but the vast majority of them cost too much and many users are disappointed to find that the app they choose to try out is too limited for their needs. Kingsoft Office is something of an anomaly -- an extremely powerful and feature-packed Android office suite that is available for free.
I've redone the Windows 8 architecture slide (so you won't have to)
Mary-Jo Foley's article about a slide shown at last year's Microsoft BUILD conference raises uncertainties that bug me as a developer. It's the graphic that attempts to lay out the architecture of Windows 8, particularly in relation to Metro versus the Desktop. As a long-time Windows API programmer, I regard this graphic as the most important yet about Windows 8. Something doesn't seem right!
Somehow all the different interpretations of this chart don't make sense to me. Something's not right, especially the position the Win32 API is given. So I decided to do some digging to see if I could uncover what is really going on under the hood.
Intuit launches new GoPayment mobile credit card swiper
Financial software and services company Intuit launched its redesigned GoPayment Card Reader on Wednesday, after debuting the new design earlier in January. The free device plugs into a smartphone's or tablet's audio jack and lets users scan credit cards for payment.
Mobile payment systems are a hot business where lots of different standards are competing, with no clear "winner" in the space.
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