http://www.pcworld.com en-us Tue, 02 Dec 2014 00:49:46 -0800 Tue, 02 Dec 2014 00:49:46 -0800 Mon, 01 Dec 2014 21:20:07 -0800 Agam Shah Agam Shah Thieves might regret stealing Hewlett-Packard's ultrathin Elitebook Folio 1020 laptops, which have a feature that turns them into nothing more than paperweights in case of theft. A special feature in the Elitebook Folio 1020 is an "always on" capability so the laptop can be tracked even when it's shut off, as with smartphones and tablets. If a laptop is lost or stolen, it can be tracked down to a specific location and data can be remotely wiped by a system administrator. HP is tailoring the always-on tracking feature for the company's Web-based Touchpoint Manager mobile-device management service. The laptops have an extremely low-power ARM-based chip that remains on to enable the tracking and GPS-like feature, and the Touchpoint Manager service can issue alerts and start wiping data if a laptop is stolen or lost. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here HP's new EliteBook laptops may be corporate tools, but they've got some cool factor, too—whether it's the carbon-fiber-infused shell of one model, or the twistable display on another. Cool is good, because these EliteBooks face as much pressure as the mobile workforce they support. They have to perform, and they have to last. I'll be honest with you: I have a friend whose company went with HP for her sales team, and she hated those laptops. They kept failing. I recall her bitter words as I write this. Let's hope that was then, this is now, because these EliteBooks, announced Tuesday, meet military (MIL-STD 810G) durability standards, and they sport many premium features you won't see on consumer systems shipping now. (They may, however, offer a peek at what could show up on mainstream machines someday.) To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here A new kind of point-of-sale malware similar to that which struck Target is being sold in underground markets for US$2,000. The malware, LusyPOS, was found on VirusTotal, a website where people can submit malware samples to see if one of several dozen security applications detects it. It had also been advertised on an underground carding website, where people buy and sell stolen payment card data, said Brian Minick, vice president of the advanced security business of CBTS, a Cincinnati, Ohio-based security company. "It's the first we've seen of it," Minick said. "It looks pretty new." Retailers across the U.S. have been hit hard by malware that scans the volatile memory of computers connected to point-of-sale systems, which handle card payments. Home Depot said it lost 56 million card details to this type of attack over a six-month period earlier this year, one of the largest data breaches on record. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Sick of the blue-hued interface Samsung forced on your Galaxy S5 or Note 4? Maybe a pre-loaded theme pack could help spruce things up a bit. An Italian technology journalist named Antonio Monaco posted what he alleges are screenshots of Samsung's TouchWiz Themes app. From the looks of, it appears that the Themes are mostly just icon packs with matching wallpapers. It's unclear if the Themes work with third-party icon packs. A glimpse at some of the pre-loaded themes. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here The contraction of the semiconductor industry continued with embedded chip and flash memory makers Cypress Semiconductor and Spansion announcing a merger plan worth $4 billion. Both companies make flash memory and low-power circuits used in industrial equipment, medical instruments, smart devices and cars. For example, Spansion's microcontroller units are used in automotive braking systems. The merger makes sense with fast growth in the Internet of Things market, where industrial equipment with connectivity features could put the companies' products in high demand, said Jim McGregor, principal analyst at Tirias Research. The combined company could go after markets like industrial automation, smart cities and smart devices, McGregor said. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Familiarity doesn't breed contempt—it breeds content. That's the argument Autodesk made Monday, with its decision to make its products free to students and schools around the world. Autodesk's education portal offers few limitations. Students can sign up for a three-year license, and then additional three-year licenses, provided they still have access to an academic email address to prove that they're enrolled. An Autodesk spokesman said that's been the case for some time, as the company provided access to its portfolio for "home use." To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Citing concerns around Docker's security model and its increasingly complex supporting platform, CoreOS is developing Rocket, an alternative to the open-source container technology. "A little bit of competition is good for the user at the end of the day. It makes sure everyone is aligned on building really good products," said Alex Polvi, CoreOS CEO. The Rocket container runtime, released Monday, addresses a number of concerns that the Linux distributor had around Docker. CoreOS, which produces a popular Linux distribution configured for use in the cloud, has been an early and strong supporter of Docker. The company started working on its own alternative because of the increasing number of issues its customers were experiencing with the virtualization technology, Polvi said. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Microsoft appears to be continuing its strategy of developing midrange phones for the American and overseas markets, if data collected by a Windows Phone cross-promotion network is any indication. According to a survey of 5,005 Windows Phone apps running on the AdDuplex network in late November, the Lumia 735 "selfie phone" has begun appearing on Sprint's network, as predicted by the FCC's own compatibility report in late September and by publications like PhoneArena. The data also reveals the presence of a new, unannounced phone: the Lumia RM-1062, which AdDuplex expects to be a replacement for the Lumia 1320, the overlooked little brother of the massive Lumia 1520 phablet. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here We loved the Galaxy Note 4, though its biggest drawback (as is often the case with Samsung devices) was the oppressive TouchWiz software. Samsung may be going for a softer touch on its phones with Lollipop, as indicated by some leaked screenshots to hit Twitter that show Android 5.0 running on a Galaxy Note 4. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here ]]> http://www.pcworld.com/article/2853699/leaked-images-reveal-android-lollipop-running-on-galaxy-note-4.html#tk.rss_all Phones Mon, 01 Dec 2014 11:48:00 -0800 Grant Gross Grant Gross The past is coming back to haunt Apple, as a nearly 10-year-old class-action antitrust lawsuit accusing the company of trying to monopolize online music distribution is headed to trial. The Apple iPod iTunes antitrust litigation accuses Apple of violating U.S. and California antitrust law by restricting music purchased on iTunes from being played on devices other than iPods and by not allowing iPods to play music purchased on other digital music services. Late Apple founder Steve Jobs will reportedly appear via a videotaped statement during the trial, scheduled to begin Tuesday morning in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here House of Cards will cement its status as Netflix's biggest original series when season 3 debuts in February. The next batch of episodes will arrive on February 27, according to House of Cards' official Twitter account. A brief teaser video shows Frank Underwood (Kevin Spacey) and his wife Claire (Robin Wright) boarding a plane, but it reveals nothing about the upcoming plot. (Don't worry; we won't spoil how the last season ended.) Netflix doesn't reveal viewership numbers for its original series, but an unofficial estimate from Procera claimed that 5 percent to 15 percent of Netflix subscribers watched at least one episode of House of Cards Season 2 on its opening weekend. We may get a better sense of viewership soon, as Nielsen will start measuring streaming services starting this month. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Setting the stage for advanced Office mail functionality on non-Windows platforms, Microsoft has acquired Acompli, a startup that provides software for organizing email on mobile devices. "Our goal is to deliver fantastic cross-platform apps that support the variety of email services people use today and help them accomplish more," wrote Rajesh Jha, Microsoft corporate vice president for Outlook and Office 365, in a blog post announcing the purchase. Over the past year, Microsoft has been extending its Office set of office productivity software and services so they can be accessed on non-Windows devices. The company has released Office apps for the iPad and iPhone, and is working on a version of Office for Android. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Dragon Age: Inquisition is less than a month old, and it's by all accounts pretty fantastic. It's also, thanks to Amazon, on sale for $45 already regardless of which platform you play on. That's a pretty hefty discount for a game that could've easily stayed at $60 through the holidays and still sold a bunch of copies. The /r/gamedeals subreddit knows a way for you to get the game slightly cheaper ($40) if you're willing to monkey around with VPN settings, but Amazon's deal will probably suit 95 percent of people just fine. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here An uninvited guest has arrived on some Android phones on Verizon and T-Mobile. Some users have reported seeing a new package labeled DT_Ignite that installs unwanted apps in the background without notification or permission. The Digital Turbine Ignite site describes its service as a way for carriers to increase ad revenue through app installation. It describes how it can help carriers "regain a competitive edge," and that its tool "maximizes the efficiency of pre- and post-loading applications on smartphones." The prime targets appear to be the LG G3 on Verizon and Galaxy Note 4 on both Verizon and T-Mobile. This is surprising to see on T-Mobile, which bills itself as a customer-friendly "uncarrier." To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here After nearly a year of teasing, Razer's Nabu smartband will try to find its place in a crowded wearable market on December 2. The Nabu will cost $100 through Razer's online shop, and will be available in North America at first, with other regions to follow. The Nabu is a slim wristband with a black-and-white OLED display that sits on the underside of the wrist. It connects over Bluetooth to iPhones (iPhone 5 or higher) and Android phones (version 4.3 or higher), and will vibrate when users receive notifications. It's meant to be more discreet than a smartwatch, as the screen only turns on when users twist their wrists upward to see the incoming notification. (An earlier prototype also had notification icons on the topside of the wrist, but there's no sign of them on the finished product.) To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here We told you it was coming and now it's almost here. In December, Mozilla will switch the default search provider in Firefox from Google to Yahoo in the U.S. When that happens any American Firefox user who relies on the default settings for search will suddenly see Yahoo replace Google, a Mozilla representative recently told Computerworld. Why this matters: The switch from Google to Yahoo is a big deal for Mozilla. A large chunk of the Firefox maker's funding comes from its search deal, and for years this has meant Mozilla was dependent on one of its biggest browser competitors—Google. For Mozilla the move away from Google makes a lot of sense, but for many users who it probably won't. A good number of Firefox fans likely haven't switched their default search provider in Firefox for two reasons: they like Google and most of us rarely mess with default settings anyway. So what do you do when you're happy with Firefox's current defaults, but aren't so pleased about the upcoming ones? To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Getting ready to gear up for the holidays? The team at TechBargains has put together some of the best deals on the web. Whether you're looking for gifts for friends and family or hoping to treat yourself with a new HDTV or tablet, TechBargains has you covered. While we will refresh these deals regularly, they're hot and may expire unexpectedly, so make sure to check back often. HP Pavilion To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here If one of your employees told you he wanted to go to Europe for a couple of months while continuing to perform his regular duties – and get paid – you might think he was delusional. But that's exactly what Alex Pineda asked his boss at Mabel's Labels in Hamilton, Ontario, and as recounted in The Globe and Mail, it worked out quite well for Pineda and his employer. That happy outcome wasn't a coincidence. Mabel's Labels had implemented an employee management system known as a Results Only Work Environment, or ROWE. As the name implies, one of ROWE's cardinal principles holds that workers should be judged by the results they achieve. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Microsoft is doing a fine job of burying Windows XP, but still has a long way to go toward getting people onto the latest version of its operating system. According to Statcounter, usage of Windows 8.1 narrowly overtook Windows XP in November. That's partly due to record growth for Windows 8.1, which went from 9.31 percent in October to 10.95 percent last month. Windows XP usage also continued to plummet in its seventh full month without Microsoft support, dropping from 11.95 percent to 10.69 percent. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Robert Spann asked how best to copy everything on his internal drive. Should he image the drive, or clone it? Cloning copies the complete contents of one drive—the files, the partition tables and the master boot record—to another: a simple, direct duplicate. Imaging copies all of that to a single, very large file on another drive. You can then restore the image back onto the existing drive or onto a new one. Typically, people use these techniques to back up the drive, or when upgrading to a larger or faster drive. Both techniques will work for each of these chores. But imaging usually makes more sense for a backup, while cloning is the easiest choice for drive upgrades. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here The holiday season is rife with online rip-offs. In a move to protect consumers, law enforcement officials have seized 292 domain names for sites that allegedly were selling counterfeit goods. The sites were being used to illegally sell counterfeit merchandise including luxury goods, sportswear, electronics, pharmaceuticals and pirated goods like movies and music, Europol said Monday. The European Union's law enforcement agency coordinated the seizure with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the U.S. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and 25 law enforcement agencies from 19 countries. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Intel is strengthening its effort to reduce what it calls the "pain of passwords" by acquiring PasswordBox, a Canadian company that offers an online identity manager designed to let users log on to a range of websites and services with just one click. PasswordBox lets users store login credentials in what the company calls a virtual safety deposit box. When surfing the Web, users can click on the sites they want to login to and PasswordBox handles the login. The tool, which has over 14 million downloads, will become a part of the Safe Identity organization within Intel's Security Group, the company said Monday. Intel Security is planning to use PasswordBox's one-click login system for mobile devices and browsers to reduce what it calls "password fatigue." To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Amazon is adding a late entry to this year's Cyber Monday extravaganza. The online retailer just announced the Fire TV set-top streaming box will go on sale Monday afternoon for $69, $30 off the sticker price. Amazon did not announce a specific time for the sale. The story behind the story: Our mobile devices may be supplanting the television but the TV has a prime place in most homes. With streaming and cord cutting shaping the future of television, technology companies are desperate to have their device become your living room gateway to the Internet. Microsoft has the Xbox platform, Apple does Apple TV, Google has its first hit with the Chromecast, and even TV makers like Samsung and Sony are building platforms into their HDTVs. At $69, Amazon hopes it can attract a few more living rooms to the Fire TV's growing ecosystem. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Amazon has added some additional robotic muscle and computer-vision chops to its warehouses ahead of the tide of holiday shopping orders. The retailing giant said Monday it has 10 of these latest fulfillment centers in operation across the U.S., featuring software and mechanical innovations. The total number of Kiva mobile robots, which transport large vertical racks containing inventory, has topped 15,000 across the U.S., Amazon said Monday. The company agreed to buy Kiva Systems in 2012 and has been adding robot platforms to its warehouses to improve efficiency. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Sony Pictures Entertainment is making progress in removing new films stolen in a cyberattack from file-sharing websites. The movies include the Brad Pitt war film "Fury," released in the U.S. in October, as well as the upcoming "Annie," "Still Alice," "Mr. Turner" and "To Write Love on Her Arms," according to a source close to the situation, who added that the studio is working to restore its computer systems. The U.S. film and TV arm of struggling electronics giant Sony came under attack last week from a group that calls itself the Guardians of Peace (GOP). The attack apparently also affected the company's server networks including email. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Intel will supply a chip for a new version of Google Glass that will be available next year, according to a news report. The chip will replace one made by Texas Instruments and Intel will promote the new Glass device to workplace users such as hospital and factory staff, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The report did not provide any details about the chip. Google did not immediately respond to a request for information. Intel Japan said it had no comment. Earlier this year, Google said it was pushing the Internet-enabled head-mounted display for business uses with a program called Glass at Work, and said employees of oilfield services company Schlumberger are using Glass to improve safety and efficiency. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Lollipop is Android's biggest release in over three years, but it feels like this is just the beginning. It's packed to the brim with new features and an improved user interface, and it's also the debut of a new design philosophy for Android. But it still feels like there's still so much more work to be done. I won't be covering the newly redesigned suite of Google apps, since most of them were updated before Lollipop went live to everyone, and they're independent from the operating system. And like my Android 4.4.4 KitKat review last year, I won't give it a score because Android is always changing, and is frequently modified by device manufacturers. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Regardless of where you stand on the net neutrality debate, one thing doesn't help: misleading or confusing statements. Unfortunately there are plenty of them. Net neutrality is an Internet ideal that will become possible If the Federal Communications Commission decides to reclassify Internet service providers from information services to telecommunications services. If the FCC reclassifies ISPs, it will be able to regulate them—and that could affect a push by ISPs to provide faster Internet service to Web companies willing to pay for the privilege. Data-hungry Web companies like Netflix want the speed, and the ISPs want the money. Others, however, fear a pay-to-play scheme could put cash-strapped startup sites at a disadvantage. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here I suck at grocery shopping. If I remember to inventory my pantry and refrigerator, I inevitably forget to bring my shopping list to the store. That renders my lizard brain easy pickings for the in-store merchandising that triggers impulse buying. I go in needing milk, eggs, and barbecue sauce; I come out with beer, chips, and salsa. If I use the Hiku scanner consistently, it should eventually pay for itself by reducing those impulse buys. Hold the puck-shaped Hiku between your thumb and forefinger, aim its lens at the bar code of the product you need to restock, and squeeze. The Hiku scans the UPC code and adds the item to the shopping list on your iPhone (an Android app should drop by November 28, according to the developer). To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here If you're shopping for a media-streaming box for your living room, you should include a Chromebox on your list of contenders in addition to the usual suspects (Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, et al). A Chromebox is a small desktop computer that runs Google's Chrome operating system, and you can use one to access virtually any streaming video service available on the web. They're considerably more flexible than those sub-$100 set-top boxes, but they can't do as much as a Windows-based media PC. On the other hand, they're free from security and update hassles and they're a whole lot cheaper. You can usually find models from HP and Asus on sale for less than their $180 list prices. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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http://www.pcworld.com en-us Tue, 02 Dec 2014 00:49:46 -0800 Tue, 02 Dec 2014 00:49:46 -0800 Mon, 01 Dec 2014 21:20:07 -0800 Agam Shah Agam Shah Thieves might regret stealing Hewlett-Packard's ultrathin Elitebook Folio 1020 laptops, which have a feature that turns them into nothing more than paperweights in case of theft. A special feature in the Elitebook Folio 1020 is an "always on" capability so the laptop can be tracked even when it's shut off, as with smartphones and tablets. If a laptop is lost or stolen, it can be tracked down to a specific location and data can be remotely wiped by a system administrator. HP is tailoring the always-on tracking feature for the company's Web-based Touchpoint Manager mobile-device management service. The laptops have an extremely low-power ARM-based chip that remains on to enable the tracking and GPS-like feature, and the Touchpoint Manager service can issue alerts and start wiping data if a laptop is stolen or lost. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here HP's new EliteBook laptops may be corporate tools, but they've got some cool factor, too—whether it's the carbon-fiber-infused shell of one model, or the twistable display on another. Cool is good, because these EliteBooks face as much pressure as the mobile workforce they support. They have to perform, and they have to last. I'll be honest with you: I have a friend whose company went with HP for her sales team, and she hated those laptops. They kept failing. I recall her bitter words as I write this. Let's hope that was then, this is now, because these EliteBooks, announced Tuesday, meet military (MIL-STD 810G) durability standards, and they sport many premium features you won't see on consumer systems shipping now. (They may, however, offer a peek at what could show up on mainstream machines someday.) To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here A new kind of point-of-sale malware similar to that which struck Target is being sold in underground markets for US$2,000. The malware, LusyPOS, was found on VirusTotal, a website where people can submit malware samples to see if one of several dozen security applications detects it. It had also been advertised on an underground carding website, where people buy and sell stolen payment card data, said Brian Minick, vice president of the advanced security business of CBTS, a Cincinnati, Ohio-based security company. "It's the first we've seen of it," Minick said. "It looks pretty new." Retailers across the U.S. have been hit hard by malware that scans the volatile memory of computers connected to point-of-sale systems, which handle card payments. Home Depot said it lost 56 million card details to this type of attack over a six-month period earlier this year, one of the largest data breaches on record. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Sick of the blue-hued interface Samsung forced on your Galaxy S5 or Note 4? Maybe a pre-loaded theme pack could help spruce things up a bit. An Italian technology journalist named Antonio Monaco posted what he alleges are screenshots of Samsung's TouchWiz Themes app. From the looks of, it appears that the Themes are mostly just icon packs with matching wallpapers. It's unclear if the Themes work with third-party icon packs. A glimpse at some of the pre-loaded themes. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here The contraction of the semiconductor industry continued with embedded chip and flash memory makers Cypress Semiconductor and Spansion announcing a merger plan worth $4 billion. Both companies make flash memory and low-power circuits used in industrial equipment, medical instruments, smart devices and cars. For example, Spansion's microcontroller units are used in automotive braking systems. The merger makes sense with fast growth in the Internet of Things market, where industrial equipment with connectivity features could put the companies' products in high demand, said Jim McGregor, principal analyst at Tirias Research. The combined company could go after markets like industrial automation, smart cities and smart devices, McGregor said. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Familiarity doesn't breed contempt—it breeds content. That's the argument Autodesk made Monday, with its decision to make its products free to students and schools around the world. Autodesk's education portal offers few limitations. Students can sign up for a three-year license, and then additional three-year licenses, provided they still have access to an academic email address to prove that they're enrolled. An Autodesk spokesman said that's been the case for some time, as the company provided access to its portfolio for "home use." To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Citing concerns around Docker's security model and its increasingly complex supporting platform, CoreOS is developing Rocket, an alternative to the open-source container technology. "A little bit of competition is good for the user at the end of the day. It makes sure everyone is aligned on building really good products," said Alex Polvi, CoreOS CEO. The Rocket container runtime, released Monday, addresses a number of concerns that the Linux distributor had around Docker. CoreOS, which produces a popular Linux distribution configured for use in the cloud, has been an early and strong supporter of Docker. The company started working on its own alternative because of the increasing number of issues its customers were experiencing with the virtualization technology, Polvi said. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Microsoft appears to be continuing its strategy of developing midrange phones for the American and overseas markets, if data collected by a Windows Phone cross-promotion network is any indication. According to a survey of 5,005 Windows Phone apps running on the AdDuplex network in late November, the Lumia 735 "selfie phone" has begun appearing on Sprint's network, as predicted by the FCC's own compatibility report in late September and by publications like PhoneArena. The data also reveals the presence of a new, unannounced phone: the Lumia RM-1062, which AdDuplex expects to be a replacement for the Lumia 1320, the overlooked little brother of the massive Lumia 1520 phablet. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here We loved the Galaxy Note 4, though its biggest drawback (as is often the case with Samsung devices) was the oppressive TouchWiz software. Samsung may be going for a softer touch on its phones with Lollipop, as indicated by some leaked screenshots to hit Twitter that show Android 5.0 running on a Galaxy Note 4. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here ]]> http://www.pcworld.com/article/2853699/leaked-images-reveal-android-lollipop-running-on-galaxy-note-4.html#tk.rss_all Phones Mon, 01 Dec 2014 11:48:00 -0800 Grant Gross Grant Gross The past is coming back to haunt Apple, as a nearly 10-year-old class-action antitrust lawsuit accusing the company of trying to monopolize online music distribution is headed to trial. The Apple iPod iTunes antitrust litigation accuses Apple of violating U.S. and California antitrust law by restricting music purchased on iTunes from being played on devices other than iPods and by not allowing iPods to play music purchased on other digital music services. Late Apple founder Steve Jobs will reportedly appear via a videotaped statement during the trial, scheduled to begin Tuesday morning in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here House of Cards will cement its status as Netflix's biggest original series when season 3 debuts in February. The next batch of episodes will arrive on February 27, according to House of Cards' official Twitter account. A brief teaser video shows Frank Underwood (Kevin Spacey) and his wife Claire (Robin Wright) boarding a plane, but it reveals nothing about the upcoming plot. (Don't worry; we won't spoil how the last season ended.) Netflix doesn't reveal viewership numbers for its original series, but an unofficial estimate from Procera claimed that 5 percent to 15 percent of Netflix subscribers watched at least one episode of House of Cards Season 2 on its opening weekend. We may get a better sense of viewership soon, as Nielsen will start measuring streaming services starting this month. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Setting the stage for advanced Office mail functionality on non-Windows platforms, Microsoft has acquired Acompli, a startup that provides software for organizing email on mobile devices. "Our goal is to deliver fantastic cross-platform apps that support the variety of email services people use today and help them accomplish more," wrote Rajesh Jha, Microsoft corporate vice president for Outlook and Office 365, in a blog post announcing the purchase. Over the past year, Microsoft has been extending its Office set of office productivity software and services so they can be accessed on non-Windows devices. The company has released Office apps for the iPad and iPhone, and is working on a version of Office for Android. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Dragon Age: Inquisition is less than a month old, and it's by all accounts pretty fantastic. It's also, thanks to Amazon, on sale for $45 already regardless of which platform you play on. That's a pretty hefty discount for a game that could've easily stayed at $60 through the holidays and still sold a bunch of copies. The /r/gamedeals subreddit knows a way for you to get the game slightly cheaper ($40) if you're willing to monkey around with VPN settings, but Amazon's deal will probably suit 95 percent of people just fine. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here An uninvited guest has arrived on some Android phones on Verizon and T-Mobile. Some users have reported seeing a new package labeled DT_Ignite that installs unwanted apps in the background without notification or permission. The Digital Turbine Ignite site describes its service as a way for carriers to increase ad revenue through app installation. It describes how it can help carriers "regain a competitive edge," and that its tool "maximizes the efficiency of pre- and post-loading applications on smartphones." The prime targets appear to be the LG G3 on Verizon and Galaxy Note 4 on both Verizon and T-Mobile. This is surprising to see on T-Mobile, which bills itself as a customer-friendly "uncarrier." To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here After nearly a year of teasing, Razer's Nabu smartband will try to find its place in a crowded wearable market on December 2. The Nabu will cost $100 through Razer's online shop, and will be available in North America at first, with other regions to follow. The Nabu is a slim wristband with a black-and-white OLED display that sits on the underside of the wrist. It connects over Bluetooth to iPhones (iPhone 5 or higher) and Android phones (version 4.3 or higher), and will vibrate when users receive notifications. It's meant to be more discreet than a smartwatch, as the screen only turns on when users twist their wrists upward to see the incoming notification. (An earlier prototype also had notification icons on the topside of the wrist, but there's no sign of them on the finished product.) To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here We told you it was coming and now it's almost here. In December, Mozilla will switch the default search provider in Firefox from Google to Yahoo in the U.S. When that happens any American Firefox user who relies on the default settings for search will suddenly see Yahoo replace Google, a Mozilla representative recently told Computerworld. Why this matters: The switch from Google to Yahoo is a big deal for Mozilla. A large chunk of the Firefox maker's funding comes from its search deal, and for years this has meant Mozilla was dependent on one of its biggest browser competitors—Google. For Mozilla the move away from Google makes a lot of sense, but for many users who it probably won't. A good number of Firefox fans likely haven't switched their default search provider in Firefox for two reasons: they like Google and most of us rarely mess with default settings anyway. So what do you do when you're happy with Firefox's current defaults, but aren't so pleased about the upcoming ones? To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Getting ready to gear up for the holidays? The team at TechBargains has put together some of the best deals on the web. Whether you're looking for gifts for friends and family or hoping to treat yourself with a new HDTV or tablet, TechBargains has you covered. While we will refresh these deals regularly, they're hot and may expire unexpectedly, so make sure to check back often. HP Pavilion To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here If one of your employees told you he wanted to go to Europe for a couple of months while continuing to perform his regular duties – and get paid – you might think he was delusional. But that's exactly what Alex Pineda asked his boss at Mabel's Labels in Hamilton, Ontario, and as recounted in The Globe and Mail, it worked out quite well for Pineda and his employer. That happy outcome wasn't a coincidence. Mabel's Labels had implemented an employee management system known as a Results Only Work Environment, or ROWE. As the name implies, one of ROWE's cardinal principles holds that workers should be judged by the results they achieve. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Microsoft is doing a fine job of burying Windows XP, but still has a long way to go toward getting people onto the latest version of its operating system. According to Statcounter, usage of Windows 8.1 narrowly overtook Windows XP in November. That's partly due to record growth for Windows 8.1, which went from 9.31 percent in October to 10.95 percent last month. Windows XP usage also continued to plummet in its seventh full month without Microsoft support, dropping from 11.95 percent to 10.69 percent. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Robert Spann asked how best to copy everything on his internal drive. Should he image the drive, or clone it? Cloning copies the complete contents of one drive—the files, the partition tables and the master boot record—to another: a simple, direct duplicate. Imaging copies all of that to a single, very large file on another drive. You can then restore the image back onto the existing drive or onto a new one. Typically, people use these techniques to back up the drive, or when upgrading to a larger or faster drive. Both techniques will work for each of these chores. But imaging usually makes more sense for a backup, while cloning is the easiest choice for drive upgrades. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here The holiday season is rife with online rip-offs. In a move to protect consumers, law enforcement officials have seized 292 domain names for sites that allegedly were selling counterfeit goods. The sites were being used to illegally sell counterfeit merchandise including luxury goods, sportswear, electronics, pharmaceuticals and pirated goods like movies and music, Europol said Monday. The European Union's law enforcement agency coordinated the seizure with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the U.S. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and 25 law enforcement agencies from 19 countries. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Intel is strengthening its effort to reduce what it calls the "pain of passwords" by acquiring PasswordBox, a Canadian company that offers an online identity manager designed to let users log on to a range of websites and services with just one click. PasswordBox lets users store login credentials in what the company calls a virtual safety deposit box. When surfing the Web, users can click on the sites they want to login to and PasswordBox handles the login. The tool, which has over 14 million downloads, will become a part of the Safe Identity organization within Intel's Security Group, the company said Monday. Intel Security is planning to use PasswordBox's one-click login system for mobile devices and browsers to reduce what it calls "password fatigue." To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Amazon is adding a late entry to this year's Cyber Monday extravaganza. The online retailer just announced the Fire TV set-top streaming box will go on sale Monday afternoon for $69, $30 off the sticker price. Amazon did not announce a specific time for the sale. The story behind the story: Our mobile devices may be supplanting the television but the TV has a prime place in most homes. With streaming and cord cutting shaping the future of television, technology companies are desperate to have their device become your living room gateway to the Internet. Microsoft has the Xbox platform, Apple does Apple TV, Google has its first hit with the Chromecast, and even TV makers like Samsung and Sony are building platforms into their HDTVs. At $69, Amazon hopes it can attract a few more living rooms to the Fire TV's growing ecosystem. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Amazon has added some additional robotic muscle and computer-vision chops to its warehouses ahead of the tide of holiday shopping orders. The retailing giant said Monday it has 10 of these latest fulfillment centers in operation across the U.S., featuring software and mechanical innovations. The total number of Kiva mobile robots, which transport large vertical racks containing inventory, has topped 15,000 across the U.S., Amazon said Monday. The company agreed to buy Kiva Systems in 2012 and has been adding robot platforms to its warehouses to improve efficiency. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Sony Pictures Entertainment is making progress in removing new films stolen in a cyberattack from file-sharing websites. The movies include the Brad Pitt war film "Fury," released in the U.S. in October, as well as the upcoming "Annie," "Still Alice," "Mr. Turner" and "To Write Love on Her Arms," according to a source close to the situation, who added that the studio is working to restore its computer systems. The U.S. film and TV arm of struggling electronics giant Sony came under attack last week from a group that calls itself the Guardians of Peace (GOP). The attack apparently also affected the company's server networks including email. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Intel will supply a chip for a new version of Google Glass that will be available next year, according to a news report. The chip will replace one made by Texas Instruments and Intel will promote the new Glass device to workplace users such as hospital and factory staff, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The report did not provide any details about the chip. Google did not immediately respond to a request for information. Intel Japan said it had no comment. Earlier this year, Google said it was pushing the Internet-enabled head-mounted display for business uses with a program called Glass at Work, and said employees of oilfield services company Schlumberger are using Glass to improve safety and efficiency. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Lollipop is Android's biggest release in over three years, but it feels like this is just the beginning. It's packed to the brim with new features and an improved user interface, and it's also the debut of a new design philosophy for Android. But it still feels like there's still so much more work to be done. I won't be covering the newly redesigned suite of Google apps, since most of them were updated before Lollipop went live to everyone, and they're independent from the operating system. And like my Android 4.4.4 KitKat review last year, I won't give it a score because Android is always changing, and is frequently modified by device manufacturers. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Regardless of where you stand on the net neutrality debate, one thing doesn't help: misleading or confusing statements. Unfortunately there are plenty of them. Net neutrality is an Internet ideal that will become possible If the Federal Communications Commission decides to reclassify Internet service providers from information services to telecommunications services. If the FCC reclassifies ISPs, it will be able to regulate them—and that could affect a push by ISPs to provide faster Internet service to Web companies willing to pay for the privilege. Data-hungry Web companies like Netflix want the speed, and the ISPs want the money. Others, however, fear a pay-to-play scheme could put cash-strapped startup sites at a disadvantage. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here I suck at grocery shopping. If I remember to inventory my pantry and refrigerator, I inevitably forget to bring my shopping list to the store. That renders my lizard brain easy pickings for the in-store merchandising that triggers impulse buying. I go in needing milk, eggs, and barbecue sauce; I come out with beer, chips, and salsa. If I use the Hiku scanner consistently, it should eventually pay for itself by reducing those impulse buys. Hold the puck-shaped Hiku between your thumb and forefinger, aim its lens at the bar code of the product you need to restock, and squeeze. The Hiku scans the UPC code and adds the item to the shopping list on your iPhone (an Android app should drop by November 28, according to the developer). To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here If you're shopping for a media-streaming box for your living room, you should include a Chromebox on your list of contenders in addition to the usual suspects (Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, et al). A Chromebox is a small desktop computer that runs Google's Chrome operating system, and you can use one to access virtually any streaming video service available on the web. They're considerably more flexible than those sub-$100 set-top boxes, but they can't do as much as a Windows-based media PC. On the other hand, they're free from security and update hassles and they're a whole lot cheaper. You can usually find models from HP and Asus on sale for less than their $180 list prices. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click hereFeatured
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