Best Deals of the Week, October 24th - October 28th - Deal AlertCheck out this roundup of the best deals on gadgets, gear and other cool stuff we have found this week, the week of October 17th. All items are highly rated, and dramatically discounted.66% off KMASHI 15000mAh External Battery Power BankKMASHI's 15,000mAh power bank can charge any 2 smartphones, tablets or USB devices simultaneously at high speed, and several times over without needing to be recharged. It currently averages 4 out of 5 stars on Amazon from over 7,700 customers (read reviews). With the current 66% discount you can buy it on Amazon for just $17. See it now on Amazon.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Apparently Microsoft is not done with hardware introductions. The company plans to bring new low-cost mixed-reality headsets to market through its Windows Holographic platform for as little as $299. The details came out at the big Surface launch event in New York earlier this week, but the news site Polygon got more details from Microsoft Technical Fellow and head of the HoloLens program Alex Kipman.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The likelihood that companies will experience a security incident continue to rise every year. While most organizations have put a data breach preparedness plan in place to combat such incidents, most executives aren't updating or practicing the plan regularly, according to study released earlier this month."When it comes to managing a data breach, having a response plan is simply not the same as being prepared," Michael Bruemmer, vice president at Experian Data Breach Resolution (which sponsored the study) said in a statement. "Unfortunately many companies are simply checking the box on this security tactic. Developing a plan is the first step, but preparedness must be considered an ongoing process, with regular reviews of the plan and practice drills."To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Last week’s massive distributed denial-of-service attack has prompted an urgent focus on the need for industry-led cybersecurity standards for internet of things devices.U.S. Sen. Mark Warner, (D-Va.) said Thursday that he favors an industry-based approach before seeking some form of government regulation of IoT security.“Last week’s attack does reveal a new level of vulnerability, and I’m trying to make it clear ... that this is not a problem that the government ought to be the first actor in solving,” he said in a telephone interview.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The FBI has uncovered new emails related to Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server, prompting federal authorities to investigate them.
The FBI discovered the emails as part of an "unrelated case," FBI Director James Comey said in a letter to a congressional committee that was later tweeted on Friday.
These emails "appear to be pertinent" to the FBI's original investigation into Clinton's private server use, which the agency wrapped up back in July, Comey said. Clinton, now the Democratic nominee for U.S. president, used the privacy server while she served as secretary of state.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Everybody expected mixed-reality technology to play a part in Microsoft’s big Windows 10 event on Wednesday—but nobody expected what we got. Rather than showing yet another HoloLens demonstration, Microsoft instead announced a small army of virtual reality headsets unlike anything available today, and they’re all powered by the forthcoming Windows 10 Creators Update.The demo raised more questions than it supplied answers, but there was still plenty of info to glean if you were paying attention. Here’s everything we know about Microsoft’s Windows 10 VR headsets—and one massive question spurred by their mere existence.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The Coca-Cola Company yesterday said that it has promoted Barry Simpson to CIO. Simpson, who will oversee the company’s global IT strategy, services and operations, had served as interim CIO since July, when he replaced the late Ed Steinike.
Coca-Cola CompanyCIO Barry Simpson.
“Given the significant amount of change under way as we transform our business for the future, it’s important that we have an IT function positioned to protect our information technology and accelerate our growth around the world,” said Coca-Cola President and COO James Quincey in a statement.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Security researchers have discovered a new way that allows malware to inject malicious code into other processes without being detected by antivirus programs and other endpoint security systems.The new method was devised by researchers from security firm Ensilo who dubbed it AtomBombing because it relies on the Windows atom tables mechanism. These special tables are provided by the operating system and can be used to share data between applications."What we found is that a threat actor can write malicious code into an atom table and force a legitimate program to retrieve the malicious code from the table," Ensilo researcher Tal Liberman said in a blog post. "We also found that the legitimate program, now containing the malicious code, can be manipulated to execute that code."To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Market research firm IDC says the best thing Samsung can do to put the fiery Note7 recall behind it is to come out with a really great Galaxy S8 smartphone next year.Samsung indeed has already started to tease that new Android phone, including during an analyst call this week in which the company detailed the big financial hit it has suffered from recalling the Note7 due the phablet's overheating battery issues (See also: "Samsung issues elaborate fireproof boxes for Note7 returns")To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Uber should treat its drivers in the U.K. as employees, paying them at least minimum wage from the moment they are available to work until they log off and providing them with paid time off, a London employment tribunal has ruled.The drivers and Uber must now make proposals to the judge how they will comply with the ruling, made following a preliminary hearing.What they agree will have consequences for Uber and businesses like it across the U.K. It could push costs up, increasing Uber's incentive to develop its own self-driving car.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
With the Logitech Harmony Companion remote, you can control home automation devices such as Philips hue lights, Nest Learning Thermostat, August door locks and more—plus advanced home entertainment devices like Apple TV, Roku, or Sonos and game consoles such as Xbox One, Xbox 360, PlayStation3 or Wii. Touch an Activity button like “Watch TV” and all the right devices change to the right settings. Get your lighting, locks, thermostat and more to work together for one-touch experiences like 'welcome home' or 'good night', or set room lighting to automatically dim when you start a movie. The included Harmony Hub sends commands from the remote or Harmony App to your devices using IR, Wi-Fi or Bluetooth wireless signals, so you can control devices or online entertainment services behind closed cabinet doors. Full support for Alexa included, and with the Harmony app anyone in the house can turn their iOS or Android device into a full-featured universal remote as well. A lot of features here for the currently discounted price of $128. See the highly rated and discounted Logitech Harmony Companion remote on Amazon.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Google's new Pixel phoneImage by GoogleAll the brand new features of the Pixel will not protect it from increasingly frequent security threats: each user should take necessary precautions in order to protect their data, passwords or any sensitive online transactions. A new smartphone is also an attractive one-stop location for hackers who'd like to access personal bank account data, credit card passwords, name, address, social media accounts and so on.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Frightening and funItching for some interactive thrills? We’ve got a nice stack of Halloween-ready options that you can download on your Mac today. If you’re looking for gruesome, violent adventures filled with aggressive enemies, we’ve got those. Prefer something atmospheric and eerie, albeit with the occasional well-timed jump-scare? Well, we definitely have those covered, too.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Apple’s never been shy about shaving off features in its quest for slimmer, faster computing. The new MacBook Pro lineup is no exception.Following in the footsteps of the radical 12-inch MacBook, the revamped MacBook Pro and its slick Touch Bar cull several old standbys from its design—and kill one of its siblings in the process. Here are seven technologies eradicated in the new MacBook Pro notebooks. For more details on whether we think the eliminations are worthwhile, check out Macworld’s MacBook Pro hands-on impressions.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Touch and go, in a good wayApple has finally revealed the next-generation MacBook Pro, giving its notebook line a much-needed refresh. Its biggest change is the Touch Bar, a contextual row at the top of the keyboard that changes depending on which software you’re using, replacing your traditional row of function keys. It’s the first time Apple has built a Mac with touchscreen capabilities, and it’s one of the most elaborate Mac features we’ve ever seen.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Apple showcased its new MacBook Pro on Thursday and demonstrated the new Touch Bar, an OLED touchbar across the top of the keyboard that replaces the function keys. The Touch Bar can be customized to suit the app that your Mac is currently running. The problem is that you may not have instant access to one of the most important keys on your Mac: The Escape (esc) key.The esc key isn't completely gone. If the Touch Bar is in another mode, you can hold down the fn key on the lower left of the keyboard. That will make the function keys appear on the Touch Bar, and that includes an esc key.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
It's still unclear who pulled off Friday's massive internet disruption, but the malware largely responsible for the cyber attack has since assaulted new targets -- possibly including video gamers.Since last Friday, botnets created by the Mirai malware have been launching distributed denial-of-service attacks at seemingly random targets, in short bursts, according to a security researcher who goes by the name MalwareTech.He has tracked Mirai-powered botnets and helped produce a Twitter feed that monitors their DDoS attacks. On Wednesday alone, the feed posted close to 60 attacks, many of them lasting from 30 seconds to over a minute long.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
I never bothered much with Vine, the 6-second video app that went live in 2013 after being snapped up by Twitter the year before, and apparently not many others are bothering much with it lately as they spend more time on Instagram, Snapchat and other apps.Twitter and Vine announced on Medium some "Important News about Vine," or more directly "Today, we are sharing the news that in the coming months we'll be discontinuing the mobile app."MORE: 2016 tech industry graveyardTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
There’s no magic behind the success of Mirai DDoS botnets that are made up of IoT devices: the software enabling them is publicly available, which makes it easy for relatively inexperienced actors to create them and turn them loose on anyone.Flashpoint speculates that the attacker in the case of the Dyn DDoS, which had an enormous impact on major Web sites, was the work of low-skilled script kiddies – a frightening prospect that contributes to Trend Micro’s assessment that “the Internet of Things ecosystem is completely, and utterly, broken.”+More on Network World: US Senator wants to know why IoT security is so anemic+To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here