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Adblock Plus, which has been in the forefront of online ad blocking, this week announced the beta of Flattr Plus, a joint project with micropayment site Flattr, which promises no less than to revolutionize Web monetization Users decide how much money they want to have distributed among their favorite sites, and the Flattr Plus algorithm automatical...

The Islamic State group's cyberwar capabilities are unsophisticated, but they won't be that way for long That was the conclusion of a 25-page report released last week byFlashpoint....

A hacker dubbed "The Collector" turned over 272 million stolen email credentials in his possession, Hold Security announced Wednesday The hacker bragged online about the stash, which included usernames and passwords, the firm said. It got a copy of the data -- which the hacker was peddling for 50 rubles, or less than US$1 -- after giving him a shou...

Microsoft this week announced that SQL Server 2016 will be generally available June 1 It will deliver an end-to-end data management and business analytics solution with mission-critical intelligence, according to the company....

Medicare started off the year putting into action a program to encourage more doctors to discuss end-of-life and advance care plans with patients. While the details tend to focus on the hard choices on the far side of those arrangements, new and near-future technologies could preserve life's simple pleasures on their front end End-of-life conversat...

The Linux Foundation's Core Infrastructure Initiative project on Tuesday announced a free badge program to help foster security, quality and stability in open source software projects Through an online app, the CII lets devs determine whether they're following best practices, generally within an hour or so.

Apple's earnings disappointment thudded into view last week in the middle of an afternoon of briefings at Oracle's Modern Marketing Experience conference in Las Vegas. In that context, it gave me a lot to think about -- especially the difference between a one-time earnings disappointment andsomething more serious I have a feeling that Apple is only...

India's telecommunications ministry has rejected Apple's proposal to sell refurbished iPhones in the country, Bloomberg reported this week Officials rejected the proposal based on rules that prohibit importing used electronics, according to Reuters....

Researchers at theUniversity of Michigan on Monday announced they had uncovered a series of vulnerabilities in the SamsungSmartThings home automation system that essentially could have allowed hackers to take control of various functions and break into a user's home The researchers, working with Microsoft in what may be the first comprehensive stud...

The U.S. government is on track to significantly boost spending on cybersecurity solutions. However, evolving requirements to greatly improve federal protection of information technology resources will shape that spending In fact, federal cyberprotection goals should be augmented and significantly modified, according to recent studies of the federa...

A Brazilian court on Tuesday overturned a different court's Monday order that blocked WhatsApp, the messaging site owned by Facebook, amid a criminal investigation into drug trafficking in the state of Sergipe. The earlier judicial demand that WhatsApp provide data considered critical to the investigation came soon after a ramp-up in the level of ...

Oracle on Monday announced that it has agreed to acquireOpower for US$532 million in cash More than 100 global utilities, including PG&E, Exelon and National Grid, use Opower's customer engagement and energy efficiency cloud services, Oracle said. Opower's big data platform stores and analyzes more than 600 billion meter reads from 60 million end c...

A federal magistrate in Los Angeles ordered the girlfriend of an alleged gang member to open her phone using her fingerprint so prosecutors could look at the data on it for a case they were working on, the Los Angeles Times reported last week Paytsar Bkhchadzhyan, 29, of Los Angeles pleaded no contest to identity theft earlier this year. Within 45 ...

SpaceX last week announced plans to launch a mission for Mars in 2018, with help from the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration The Red Dragon, a variant of the SpaceX Dragon 2 spacecraft, will make the unmanned journey. The Falcon Heavy 9 space launch vehicle will send it on its way....

Sometimes, it takes something drastic to change a business' behavior. Standard procedures can remain in place long after they've become detrimental to the business, but sometimes it takes a tipping point to drive home the fact that failing to change is the surest way to fail For example, the Ford Pinto's easily ruptured fuel tank could have been re...

The Fedora 23 Sugar on a Stick desktop offering is an unusually flexible computing desktop for children of all ages, school admins, and organizations looking for the best bang for absolutely no bucks on existing computer hardware The Sugar environment is both a desktop and a collection of activities or apps that involve user engagement. Activities ...

Five months after being outed -- and subsequently investigated by police and tax authorities -- Craig Steven Wright on Monday stepped forward to claim that he really is the cofounder of bitcoin who operated in secret for years under the name "Satoshi Nakamoto." Wright unveiled himself by penning a lengthy blog post and giving extensive interviews t...

HP and Google last week unveiled the HP Chromebook 13 Designed with input from customers on what they want in a next-generation Chromebook, the device is about 13 mm thick, weighs 2.8 pounds, has a brushed anodized aluminum chassis, and is the first Chromebook to use Intel's sixth-generation Core M processors....

Hulu is in talks to launch a cable TV-like service early next year, The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday Hulu, which is a joint venture of Walt Disney, 21st Century Fox and Comcast's NBCUniversal, reportedly is negotiating with Disney and Fox to deliver live broadcast and paid channels, including ABC, ESPN, Disney, Fox, Fox News, FX and Fox Spor...

Google has rehired former executive Rick Osterloh to lead its hardware businesses, which it plans to consolidate under a single division, according to news reports published last week Osterloh, who recently stepped down as president of Motorola, reportedly will head up Google's Nexus business, which will include a suite of products dubbed the "livi...