data

A newly-published report says that more than four in five of the most popular smartphone and tablet applications put users' personal data at risk. The problem: these apps send critical user information to app developers. The study comes to us from ... Appthority, a company that specializes in monitoring mobile applications. It looked at 400 apps, including 100 of the most-purchased and 100 of the most-downloaded apps for iOS and Android. (Source: appthority.com ) Overall, the firm found that 83 per cent of apps (including 93 per cent of free apps and 78 per cent of paid apps) displayed "risky ... (view more)

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) say they've developed a system that could help speed up the Internet. The research is designed to find an alternative to the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) system. TCP is the set of ... rules that govern the way data moves around the Internet. Whenever data travels online, it's broken down into small chunks known as 'packets' (in effect, info packets!). Often, these packets take different routes around the various connections that make up the net, then get reassembled at their destination. Net Currently Favors Accuracy Over Speed ... (view more)

European regulators have raided the offices of three Internet Service Providers (ISPs) said to have intentionally slowed Internet traffic over a business dispute. The officials are exploring a new legal tactic that could also be used to stop such ... slowdowns in the US. The dispute involves Cogent Communications, which is effectively an Internet middleman. It transfers data between major websites and the Internet Service Providers that carry data to customers' homes. Last month Cogent claimed US-based Verizon was intentionally slowing down the traffic it handles for video streaming sites like ... (view more)

Google has revealed extensive details about what it does when the government asks for access to your personal data. It's part of an ongoing attempt by the search giant to distance itself from the National Security Agency (NSA) surveillance scandal . ... Google's explanation is designed to make a clear point: that it delivers the data directly to the government, rather than allowing the government to physically access Google computers. The company wants to make clear it doesn't allow officials the opportunity to access more data than the law requires. (Source: nytimes.com ) Google continues to ... (view more)

Do you find the process of accessing content stored on USB sticks a tad too slow? Then you may be interested in what Intel is calling the "world's fastest thumb drive." The chip maker recently showed off the 128 gigabyte (GB) device -- which hasn't ... yet been given a formal name and remains in prototype form -- at the Computex trade show in Taipei, Taiwan. The device uses Thunderbolt technology, which allows it to provide unprecedented data transfer speeds. Intel says this is the first data stick to use the Thunderbolt tech. (Source: pcworld.com ) Thunderbolt Thumb Drive: 2X the Speed of USB 3. ... (view more)

Leaked documents claim the U.S. government has direct access to user data for some of the web's most popular services. Officials admit the program exists but insist it's only being used to targeting foreigners who may pose a threat to U.S. national ... security. The documents were reportedly leaked from a National Security Agency (NSA) program called PRISM to the British newspaper The Guardian. The documents say the program involves NSA officials gaining direct access to the servers of nine tech companies, including Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Facebook, PalTalk, YouTube, Skype, AOL and Apple. ( ... (view more)

Data Crow 3.9.23 Data Crow is an incredibly effective media organizer. It helps you clean up your growing media collection and makes finding that one movie, TV clip, or song easier than ever before. Data Crow is completely free and is free of all ... spyware or viruses. http://www.datacrow.net Adobe Flash Player 11.7.700.197 Beta Try out the newest version of Flash Player, the multimedia tool that lets you watch video and play interactive games from your favorite browser. Adobe Flash Player 11 adds several new features, including Stage 3D, Concurrency, and advanced content protection. http://www. ... (view more)

According to a new study from Verizon, almost one in three of the world's cyber attacks originate in China. The study also revealed that Chinese attackers are more interested in cyberespionage than stealing money. The figures are part of Verizon's ... annual Data Breach Investigations Report. The report aims to bring together data from cybercrime experts from around the world. This year the data covers a total of 47,000 "security incidents," though the vast majority of these incidents appear to have been failed attacks. Only 621 cases are known to have involved an actual breach of security with ... (view more)

Apple has admitted to retaining private personal data collected by services Siri and Dictation for a period of 18 months. The disclosure came after one civil liberties group complained that Apple is not doing enough to inform its customers of their ... privacy rights. In response, Apple has revealed the kind of customer information that is collected and stored. In a recent interview, Apple spokeswoman Trudy Muller explained how her company performs their data collection. Siri (available on iOS devices) and Dictation (available on both iOS and OS X devices) send speech-to-text messages wirelessly ... (view more)

Google says it will allow users to decide what should happen to their data after they die. It will allow users to have data deleted or passed on to somebody else. The new feature is called 'Inactive Account Manager' and is accessed through the main ... account settings page for your Google account. It's an opt-in service, so it will only take effect if you actively set it up. (Source: google.com ) The feature isn't triggered by your death, but by you failing to carry out any actions that require you to be logged into an account, such as checking emails. You can set the feature to activate after ... (view more)