The glitch that stole Christmas: How to handle smart tech gifts

How to prevent net-connected toys and other smart tech gifts becoming a post-Christmas nightmare.

from BBC News - Technology http://ift.tt/2kUPCKm

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Should Budget for ‘You Need a Budget’?

Do you need You Need A Budget? While that might seem like a typo (or some kind of obscure Zen koan), we’re simply posing a question regarding the app called You Need A Budget, which we’ll call YNAB (like they do) from here on out to eliminate any confusion. YNAB does pretty much only one thing – help you create a budget and stick to it – and it does it really well. But is it worth its relatively steep annual fee? Let’s take a look. After installing YNAB, you’ll be asked to connect your banking and credit accounts if you’d like. Doing so lets the app pull in all of your financial transactions which can then be assigned to different spending categories. If you aren’t comfortable handing over this information, you can also enter transactions manually, although the company uses some pretty serious encryption algorithms, so security doesn’t seem like an issue. In either event, you can initially assign transactions to any of the app’s five categories: immediate obligations; true expenses; ...
Read more

iObit Malware Defender strengthens its armo

Image
Cryptojackers. Worms. Bots. Keylogers.  It might sound like the plot of the next installment in the Star Wars franchise, but in fact, it’s just a short summary of the dangers of modern computing. All a type of malware, these nasty bugs can at best get on your computer and slow things down and at worst, expose your personal information to hackers that could lead to identity left and a lifetime of hassle. Fortunately, there are a whole host of malware fighters out there, including Malware Defender from iObit. In its latest release – version 7 – it’s got even more power to deflect incoming cyber threats.  What’s New You can read our previous review of iObit Malware Defender here , so we’ll just focus on what’s new in this post. Perhaps best of all, the software has gotten speedier. iObit says that their testing shows an increase of 300% on average from the time the software detects a threat till the time it removes it. As with most malware programs, this one always starts wit...
Read more

Signal Secure Messenger: No corporate strings attached

It’s not too often you check out an app’s homepage and see an endorsement by Edward Snowden. Yet that’s exactly what you get when you visit Signal’s page, and Snowden’s endorsement makes a lot of sense considering that this is a secure messaging app.  Unlike other secure messaging apps like Viber, Signal is open sourced, peer reviewed and it is funded through donations rather than through ads or purchases. Plus, Signal is a non-profit organization, so it’s not looking to impress shareholders. All of this adds up to super-secure software that’s constantly monitored for flaws and has only one focus – keeping your communications encrypted from the time they leave your device until they arrive at the intended recipient. Along the way no one – not even Signal – can read or listen to them. Installation Setting up Signal is pretty straightforward. Once downloaded to your phone or tablet, the app will ask for permission to access your contacts and other media on your phone as well as th...
Read more