Category: Featured

Hackers threaten to take Pokémon Go offline August 1 with massive DDoS attack

Hackers threaten to take Pokémon Go offline August 1 with massive DDoS attack

Poodlecorp (yes, you read that right) has threatened to take the über popular augmented reality game Pokémon Go offline August 1 through a series of distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks on the game’s already fragile servers. “We take the servers offline because it is popular right now and nobody can stop us,” @xotehpoodle (a member of the Poodlecorp group) said. “We do it...

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Yahoo ‘screws it up,’ writes down $482 million of Tumblr

Yahoo is writing down the value of its Tumblr acquisition by $482 million, citing lower projections for the social network’s future performance, the company announced Monday. This comes after Yahoo took a $230 million similar writedown last quarter on its Tumblr buy. In total, Yahoo has now written down more than half of Tumblr’s value since acquiring it for $1.1 billion in 2013 —...

Software flaw puts mobile phones and networks at risk of complete takeover

Software flaw puts mobile phones and networks at risk of complete takeover

A newly disclosed software flaw could allow attackers to seize control of mobile phones and key parts of the world’s telecommunications infrastructure and make it possible to eavesdrop or disrupt entire networks, security experts warned Tuesday. The bug resides in a code library used in a wide range of telecommunication products, including radios in cell towers, routers, and switches, as well as the baseband...

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Snapchat may start spying on objects in your camera

Snapchat has proven to be a great resource for people to connect all over the world through the power of their smartphone. However, a sizeable user base also brings with it a sizeable opportunity for advertising revenue, and that’s exactly what the company appears to be promoting – just maybe not in the way you’d expect. The company has filed a patent for a...

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Higher prices make Netflix customers cancel and stocks to dive

Netflix released its earnings report for the second quarter today. The company was one of 2015’s best performing stocks, but has seen its share price stumble in recent months on projections of slower growth. Today it reported $1.97 billion in revenue and net income of $41 million. Adding to worries about its growth, the company added just 1.54 million subscribers, well below its own...

Opera browser sold to a Chinese consortium for $600 million

Opera browser sold to a Chinese consortium for $600 million

After a $1.2 billion deal fell through, Opera has sold most of itself to a Chinese consortium for $600 million. The buyers, led by search and security firm Qihoo 360, are purchasing Opera’s browser business, its privacy and performance apps, its tech licensing and, most importantly, its name. The Norwegian company will keep its consumer division, including Opera Apps & Games and Opera TV....

Maxthon browser sends your data to Chinese servers without permission

Maxthon browser sends your data to Chinese servers without permission

Web browser Maxthon has been caught sending detailed information from it users, such as their browsing history and other installed applications to the China based company that develops the software. Maxthon is a freeware web browser for Windows, OS X and Linux, developed by Chinese company Maxthon Ltd based in Beijing. It is also available on Windows Phone 8, iOS and Android platforms as...

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European Union slams Google with more antitrust charges

The European Commission has added new antitrust charges against Google in the areas of search and advertising as it continues to investigate into the Internet search giant. On Thursday, the EC charged Google in a “statement of objections” that it has placed restrictions on the ability of certain third party websites to display search advertisements from the search giant’s competitors. Google places search ads...

Sen. Franken asks Pokémon Go creator: Why all the privacy problems?

Sen. Franken asks Pokémon Go creator: Why all the privacy problems?

Earlier this week awareness of a privacy issue with Pokémon Go became public. We learned that the insanely popular mobile gaming app Pokémon Go requested full access to users’ Google accounts when activated on iOS. Niantic said that it was a mistake, and the issue was corrected in an update for the app. Yesterday, Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) sent a letter (PDF) to game creator Niantic asking the company to explain...

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Microsoft Edge and the Netflix app will play content in 1080p

On Wednesday, Microsoft claimed that its Edge browser was the only one of the big four browsers—which also includes Chrome, Firefox, and Opera—to offer 1080p resolution while playing Netflix content. A quick test of all four browsers by PCWorld proved this claim to be true, with the other three browsers capped at 720p. Currently, Opera runs Netflix at a maximum resolution of 720p. Why...