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Recommending movies and TV shows you've watched on Netflix to individual Facebook friends just got easier. The company on Tuesday launched a new social recommendation feature that lets users pick and choose the contacts they'd like to interact with after viewing a video Netflix previously allowed its members to recommend what they'd watched to thei...

The United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration next month will reformat the flash memory of the Mars exploration rover Opportunity Opportunity's been undergoing computer resets with increasing frequency -- it had 12 in August alone....

Smartphones, tablets and other wireless devices have made it possible for consumers to access the Internet from almost anywhere in the world -- but apps are the tools that specifically drive usage, by offering an easy-to-use interface. As a result, consumers are getting accustomed to accessing the Internet using apps instead of a browser. Business...

If you want to see an IT pro twitch, bring up Shadow IT in a conversation "Shadow IT" is a term applied to technology deployed by an organization's users outside the purview of the IT department. It's bothersome to system shepherds because it can open up an organization to data leakages. It's also growing....

Following years of development, Xactly has made Xactly Insights generally available. The product compiles the compensation data of all the companies that use Xactly's products, aggregates and anonymizes that data, and then gives users access to it. Participating companies opt in, fully aware of how their data is being used. The end result is a sea...

Domain name registrarNamecheap on Monday reported that it was besieged Sunday night by cyberattackers who employed username and password data possibly stolen by the so-called CyberVor hacker gang. "Overnight, our intrusion detection systems alerted us to a much higher than normal load against our login systems," explained Matthew Russell, Nameche...

Apple on Tuesday issued a statement blaming the posting online of more than 100 celebrities' photos in various stages of dishabille on a highly targeted hack attack to gain access to their usernames, passwords and answers to security questions. None of the cases investigated resulted from any breach in the company's systems, including iCloud or F...

People have been reluctant to discuss whistle-blower Edward Snowden's revelations about the United States National Security Agency's surveillance activities in social media, the Pew Center Internet Project reported last week. Only 42 percent of the 1,800 adults interviewed by the center were willing to post their views on the topic on their Faceb...

Dropbox last week announced a Pro cloud-storage overhaul that includes new features and lower pricing Improved security and better sharing controls are the focus of the new features, while a simplified pricing plan offers all Dropbox Pro users a full terabyte of storage for US$9.99 per month. Previously, multiple pricing options were available: 100...

Leap Motion last week announced a virtual reality headset developer mount for Oculus Rift and a new API that together will take the VR game to new heights The API feeds raw infrared imagery straight from Leap's sensors to the controller on the headset, giving users a real time view of the environment....

The U.S. government soon will be operating in the 2015 fiscal year, which begins on Oct. 1. For information technology vendors, marketing to federal agencies will remain challenging during 2015 and succeeding years, as agencies work within a constrained budget environment. In the short term, overall federal IT spending will decline. However, most,...

A very interesting book just hit the market. Written by Martine Rothblatt -- apparently she is America's top paid female CEO -- its title is Virtually Human: The Promise -- and the Peril -- of Digital Immortality. The subject is digital clones, and Rothblatt goes into depth about what they are, when they are coming, and the likelihood they eventually will have equal human rights. ...

Why do you go to work each day? Some people may claim it's love of the work. What they do is so rewarding and wonderful that they'd do it for free. "Don't tell my boss!" they joke. Hardy-har However, even the most fulfilled, self-actualized and altruistic person lives and works in a world where money talks. It takes money to keep a roof over your h...

Peach OSI is a new Linux distro that stands apart from the crowd.Its first stable version was just released in June -- yet it displays more performance traits and sophistication than many Linux distros that have been searching for an audience for years In the crowded Linux distro field, it is very rare to find a newcomer that is not like any of the...

Google on Thursday introduced Project Wing, a drone-based delivery project it has been working on quietly for the past two years. Members of the Google[x] team (aka "Moonshots") recently held field tests of the technology in Australia. They were able use drones to deliver a first aid kit, candy bars, dog treats and water to a couple of Australian ...

Uber is attempting to polish its image with a defense of its driver recruitment tactics following publication this week on The Verge of accounts of sabotage, dirty tricks and generally ruthless behavior toward Lyft and other competitors in the ride-sharing space. "We want to make sure everyone has access to Uber's unmatched economic opportunity," ...

Twitter this week announced that its analytics tool, first made available to advertisers, Twitter Card users and verified users, now can be used by everyone Twitter's analytics tool lets users click on any tweet to see how people engage with it in real time. They can compare their tweet activity month over month and see how they trend over time. Us...

Welcome to my Gadget Dreams and Nightmares, a look at just-announced gizmos that caught my eye. This week, we'll take a peek at the latest example of a smartphone trend, a noisy hat, a safer e-reader, and possibly the most useful piece of wearable fitness tech yet. Please note that these are not reviews -- the ratings reflect my interest in using ...

Hackers appear to have stolen data from JPMorgan Chase and at least one other U.S. bank in retaliation for economic sanctions against Russia The raid on the banks' computer systems resulted in the theft of gigabytes of sensitive data, Bloomberg reported Wednesday evening....

Rumor has it that when Apple reveals its much-hyped iPhone 6 on Sept. 9, one of the features it will be trumpeting -- finally -- is near field communication. The NFC tech will enable mobile payments, Wired reported, citing sources "familiar with the matter."