Technology news

• U.S. suspects North Korea had help attacking Sony Pictures - source

  29-12-2014 22:50
  
  By Mark Hosenball and Jim Finkle WASHINGTON/BOSTON (Reuters) - U.S. investigators believe that North Korea likely hired hackers from outside the country to help with last month's massive cyberattack against Sony Pictures, an official close to the investigation said on Monday. As North Korea lacks the capability to conduct some elements of the sophisticated campaign by itself, U.S. investigators are looking at the possibility that Pyongyang "contracted out" some of the cyber work,
  
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• NYPD supporters fuming at Chipotle over Facebook 'hands up' protest post

  29-12-2014 22:21
  
  Man calling himself former officer said policeman told him workers protestedChipotle: store video shows employee at Brooklyn restaurant acted aloneNYPD chief defends de Blasio and criticises police funeral protest Continue reading...
  
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• Windows 10 could come with a brand new Microsoft browser

  29-12-2014 22:10
  
  We've heard lots and lots of rumors about Windows 10, but until now there's been little word about what browser the new operating system will use.According to ZDNet's sources Microsoft is building a completely new browser to replace the ubiquitous but oft-maligned Internet Explorer.This new Windows browser is being called "Spartan," and it seems it's a completely new browser not based on Internet Explorer at all.This is pretty surprising, considering how long Microsoft has stuck with I
  
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• Facebook says sorry for Year in Review

  29-12-2014 20:22 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Facebook has apologised over its Year in Review feature, after some users complained about the images chosen to sum up their 2014.
  
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• Gmail appears to be blocked in China

  29-12-2014 19:49 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The remaining way to easily access Google's email service Gmail is now blocked in China, according to reports.
  
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• Gmail blocked in China

  29-12-2014 18:50
  
  ‘Great firewall’ blamed as email service reports sharp dropoff in traffic on Friday with services still down on Monday Continue reading...
  
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• Twitter kicks Android app users out for five hours due to 2015 date bug

  29-12-2014 17:14
  
  The social network celebrated 2015 in style, by breaking its Android app and mobile website – and all, it seems, because of one misplaced letter Continue reading...
  
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• French court rules in favour of Bouygues on 4G licence fees

  29-12-2014 16:49
  
  PARIS (Reuters) - France's highest administrative court has ruled in favour of Bouygues Telecom in its appeal against annual fees telecoms operators pay the state for mobile airwaves previously used for voice calls to be reassigned for Internet browsing. In March 2013 French regulator ARCEP authorised Bouygues to recycle its second-generation (2G) mobile spectrum for 4G use on condition that it paid more than when it was used for voice calls. ...
  
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• Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi valued at £29bn

  29-12-2014 16:19
  
  World’s No 3 smartphone maker raises £707m in round of funding that cements its status as one of globe’s most valuable tech firms Continue reading...
  
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• Facebook apologises over 'cruel' Year in Review clips

  29-12-2014 16:11
  
  The social network apologised after it showed one user a photograph of his recently-deceased daughter in its ‘Year in Review’ feature; many others had similar complaints Continue reading...
  
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• 'Captain America' to 'Interstellar': The Science of 2014's Sci-Fi

  29-12-2014 15:31
  
  From intelligent machines to intelligent apes, and from alien plant creatures to wormhole-hopping spacefarers, the sci-fi movies of 2014 brought a heap of science tidbits to the screen. Here are the 12 best science nuggets from the last 12 months of science-fiction films:
  
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• In Depth: PS4 vs Xbox One: which won 2014?

  29-12-2014 15:00
  
  PS4 vs Xbox One. It's a battle that's waged since before these consoles were even announced, and it will likely remain as heated as it has been long into the New Year.This battle may be ageless, but I wanted to look at 2014 alone to see how Sony, Microsoft and their respective black boxes fared over the last 12 months.Examining several areas, like exclusive games, entertainment features and the consoles' biggest failures, I set out to see which console emerged from 2014 victorious and which one
  
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• Israeli mobile operator Cellcom enters TV market

  29-12-2014 14:48
  
  By Steven Scheer JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli mobile phone operator Cellcom launched a new television service on Monday, providing the sector its first real competition in 15 years and possibly setting off a price war. The entry of Cellcom, Israel's largest cellular provider, comes nearly three years after the company itself was stung by competition in the mobile market that led to plunging revenue and profit. It also comes during an election campaign that has centred on the high cost of l
  
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• Apple Pay set for mid-2015 launch - if it can win over the big banks

  29-12-2014 14:00
  
  Apple Pay has yet to launch in the UK but rumours are that, with big banking contracts signed, we should see the service come in mid-2015.According to the Telegraph, Apple has been busy showing off the merits of Apple Pay to the UK's banking sector but negotiations have been trickier than anticipated.Unnamed sources have indicated that Apple's data mining could be what's stalling talks, given Apple will essentially be collecting a mountain of personal and banking information from all that use th
  
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• Chinese access to Gmail cut, regulators blamed

  29-12-2014 13:58
  
  BEIJING (AP) — Chinese access to Google Inc.'s email service has been blocked amid government efforts to limit or possibly ban access to the U.S. company's services, which are popular among Chinese who seek to avoid government monitoring.
  
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• Fingerprint 'cloned from photos'

  29-12-2014 13:43 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Hacker Jan Krissler claims to have cloned the fingerprint of a German politician using standard photographs taken at an event.
  
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• Uber updates safety regulations in attempt to get New Delhi ban lifted

  29-12-2014 13:31
  
  Taxi app company promises to reverify all Indian drivers with police and introduce new safety feature called ‘ShareMyETA’ following alleged rape of passenger in New Delhi Continue reading...
  
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• PlayStation Network back online, while Lizard hacker group basks in limelight

  29-12-2014 13:12
  After days of disruption Sony’s PlayStation Network is functioning again – but hackers’ appetite for fame may prove their undoing
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• In Depth: The 7 phones that EVERYBODY loved

  29-12-2014 13:01
  
  The 7 phones that EVERYBODY lovedThere was a time when phones used to be a bit different from each other. Today buyers are faced with the dilemma of whether to have their featureless new rectangle running iOS or Android, with the phones of old having quirkier appearances and more unpredictable features.Nokias were nothing like Panasonics, Sony had some bonkers ideas, Palm existed and LG pioneered with some weird touchscreen models way before Apple worked out how to make them feel nice and
  
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• Best free software of 2014: Evernote

  29-12-2014 13:00
  
  Having become synonymous with work (their slogan is "a workspace for your life's work") and now boasting over 90 million users, Evernote have spent 2014 updating their apps across all operating systems, including Windows 8. In October, the Evernote team announced a new app and a major redesign, thus increasing the company's hold on the productivity market. Evernote operates as a multi-purpose notebook – the Swiss army knife of notebooks, if you will – and can bundle together a myr
  
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• Game Of Thrones tops 'most pirated' charts for third year running

  29-12-2014 12:29
  
  Game of Thrones is the most-pirated TV series for the third year running, beating Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead to the top spot.Pirates seem to love the goings-on in Westeros. Throughout 2014 the TV show has been topping the pirate charts, earning the all-time piracy crown earlier in the year.According to Torrent Freak, Game of Thrones averaged 8.1 million illegal downloads, while second place Walking Dead was significantly lower with 4.1 million downloads.This could well be down to the chan
  
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• What is the Guardian's tech stack?

  29-12-2014 12:28
  
  The Guardian does not have a fixed tech stack, instead we allow our teams to choose the technology that solves their problems. That leads to a lot of variety in the software we use Continue reading...
  
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• VIDEO: Technology's biggest trends of 2014

  29-12-2014 12:09 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Rory Cellan-Jones looks back at the big technology trends of 2014.
  
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• In Depth: Samsung Galaxy S6, iPhone 6S... 10 phones we're looking forward to in 2015

  29-12-2014 12:00
  
  10 phones we're looking forward to in 2015Mobile phone line-ups are a little like Hollywood movie franchises, and by now we have a pretty good idea of what we should be expecting to see over the next 12 months: all the big players will be producing sequels to their blockbusters of 2014 and we can look forward to better photos, faster performance and lighter handsets across the board.With the HTC One M8, the iPhone 6, the iPhone 6 Plus, the Nexus 6, the Galaxy S5 and many others we've been spoile
  
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• Our most anticipated video games of 2015

  29-12-2014 11:57
  
  From legends like Zelda and Tomb Raider to newcomers like Night in the Woods, here are the games we’re looking forward to in the coming year
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• University opens Magna Carta centre

  29-12-2014 11:55 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A centre to mark the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta is to open to examine issues of personal freedom in the digital age.
  
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• Traffic to Gmail from China cut, regulators suspected

  29-12-2014 11:30
  
  BEIJING (AP) — Connections to Google Inc.'s popular email service have been blocked in China amid efforts by the government to limit access to the company's services.
  
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• Wolf 'most pirated film of 2014'

  29-12-2014 11:26 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The Wolf of Wall Street, Martin Scorsese's true-life tale of corrupt New York stockbrokers, leads the pack of the most illegally downloaded movies of 2014.
  
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• Sony's Interview makes $15m online

  29-12-2014 11:13 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Controversial Sony film The Interview becomes the studio's most downloaded film ever, just four days after its release online.
  
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• The Interview becomes Sony's most-popular online movie of all time

  29-12-2014 10:43
  
  The Interview may well go down in the history books as the movie that sparked a third world war, but before that happens Sony can celebrate that it's a box-office success - despite only being released online.Box-office returns have revealed that the movie made a decent $15 million in revenue from its its few days on the internet. The film was released on Christmas Eve in the US and Canada - through Google Play Movies, YouTube and Xbox Video - and landed on iTunes yesterday. Inter-viewedAccording
  
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• Google’s Gmail blocked in China

  29-12-2014 10:02
  
  ‘Great firewall’ blamed as email service reports sharp dropoff in traffic on Friday with services still down on Monday Continue reading...
  
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• The 12 tech months of 2014

  29-12-2014 09:12 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Rory looks back at 2014's big technology stories
  
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• Industry voice: The future of the omnichannel experience

  29-12-2014 09:09
  
  Throughout 2014 we have witnessed a massive surge in digital technology, especially around mobile. As a result of these advances in digital and mobile technologies, today's businesses and brands have more marketing tools available to them than ever before. However, these advancements are often outpacing an organisation's ability to interact, not only with their customers, but also with each other internally as there are so many tools at their disposal.It is evident that those brands that focu
  
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• Industry voice: Proximity marketing networks: the future of consumer engagement?

  29-12-2014 09:04
  
  Over the past year we have seen a number of retailers in the UK begin to experiment and trial proximity marketing technologies, such as beacons and geo-fencing tools, to provide a more personalised and engaging customer experience. Most recently, we have seen one of the UK's largest supermarket chains, ASDA, join an impressive array of retailers, including John Lewis, Tesco and Waitrose, to trial beacon technology across a selection of stores across the country.The steady increase in retailers '
  
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• From Destiny to OlliOlli, the best games of 2014

  29-12-2014 09:00
  
  Nathan Ditum reviews the year in gaming and chooses his top five games of 2014Keith Stuart’s 25 best games of 2014 Continue reading...
  
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• Tumblr CEO: Focusing on storytelling and self-expression

  29-12-2014 08:53 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Blog site founder is excited about social storytelling
  
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• EMET your enterprise for peak Windows security

  29-12-2014 08:30 via zdnet.com
  
  Microsoft's Enhanced Mitigation Experience Toolkit (EMET) tightens the security screws in Windows and applications. It's set up for enterprise deployment and management.
  
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• Bharti Airtel drops decision to charge more for VoIP calls

  29-12-2014 07:29
  
  (Reuters) - Bharti Airtel Ltd dropped a plan on Monday to charge clients extra for Internet communication services such as Skype, amid a debate on allowing equal access to web content and a backlash from subscribers. India's largest telecommunications carrier by subscribers said last week that Internet or data plans that give customers discounted rates will be valid for Internet browsing but will exclude Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services. VoIP services include communications appl
  
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• Twitter skips most of 2015, locks users out of Android app

  29-12-2014 03:29 via zdnet.com
  
  Users of the Twitter's official Android and Tweetdeck applications have reported problems this morning.
  
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• Sony: PlayStation back online after 3-day outage

  29-12-2014 03:15
  
  Sony says its PlayStation Network is back online after three days of disruptions that began on Christmas.
  
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• LG to face difficult 2015, launch Firefox LTE phone in Japan

  29-12-2014 01:41 via zdnet.com
  
  South Korean tech giant LG Electronics is expected to have hard time next year due to strong competition in the premium smartphone market.
  
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• ​Government claims NZ$239 million in savings from common ICT

  29-12-2014 01:37 via zdnet.com
  
  Bulk-buying deals bear financial fruit, New Zealand Government CIO says.
  
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