News

Yahoo gains U.S. search share at Google’s expense

Mozilla's decision to use Yahoo as the default search tool in Firefox is paying off for the Internet company

FCC to vote on overturning two state laws limiting municipal broadband

The best Linux desktop environment for your needs?

In today's open source roundup: Find the Linux desktop that works best for you. Plus: Is VirtualBox doomed? And why you should get your loved ones off of Facebook

Is Windows RT dead? Windows stops making Nokia Lumia 2520

With Windows 10 looming, it could mean an end to Windows RT

Windows for $0? Yes, on a $35 Raspberry Pi — but there’s a catch

Microsoft and the Raspberry Pi Foundation team up to offer Windows 10 for developers of the tinkerer-favorite board

Microsoft talks up Windows 10 for business, but questions mount

Redmond dribbles out info on Windows 10's update process for enterprise

Google will motivate bug hunters to keep probing its products with research grants

The company expands its bug bounty programs to incentivize researchers as bugs become harder to find

Windows 10’s aching Achilles’ heel: Patches

Two recent beta patching problems illustrate congenital defects in Microsoft's Windows 10 patching strategy

Go and Rust: The road ahead for two young programming languages

With Rust hitting 1.0 and Go gaining traction, see how the new kids in programming measure up

Mobile app security grabs feds’ attention

A report from NIST outlines key areas where businesses can reduce security risks in their use of mobile apps

Microsoft updates cloud-based SQL Server to simplify management

The updates are aimed at companies that choose to run SQL Server on a virtual machine on Azure

Windows 10 build 9926 patch KB 3035129 throws benign error 0x80246017

The must-have patch KB 3035129 may lead you to believe you can install a new preview build — but it’s all an illusion

Google Drive for Linux screenshots leaked

In today's open source roundup: Google may be preparing to release Drive for Linux. Plus: Q*bert rebooted for Android, and will Blizzard finally support Linux users?

Ghost Linux vulnerability can be exploited through WordPress, other PHP apps

Some Web applications written in PHP call a vulnerable glibc function, potentially opening the door to attacks

Scientists say AI fears unfounded, could hinder tech advances

Artificial intelligence research — for at least the foreseeable future — is going to help humans, not harm them

Mayors of Boston, Seattle, KC, others: No more muni broadband restrictions, please

Next Century Cities group of mayors from 38 U.S. cities ask FCC to clear way for public utility Internet services

FCC redefines advanced broadband as 25Mbps, Republicans blow a gasket

The agency's higher speed definition allows it to take new actions to encourage deployment

YouTube dumps Flash for HTML5

The online video service's switch to HTML5 could spell doom for Adobe Flash and Microsoft Silverlight

Unicorn epidemic portends wild ride for startups

The Unicorn Club — companies valued at more than $1 billion — is filling up, but no one knows whether it's a good or a bad sign for tech

EMC plans layoffs in wake of weakened outlook

The company didn't say how many employees will be let go

LibreOffice 4.4 tidies up, inside and out

The open source productivity suite sheds bugs and streamlines its UI in its latest update

Boosted by iPhone 6 sales, Apple ties with Samsung for top smartphone rank

Samsung is losing market share to both Apple and Chinese vendors

Intel wants to banish cables, connectors with new Broadwell chips

Intel's new Core chips with vPro will support technologies for wireless storage and displays

Microsoft previews OneDrive for Business for the Mac

Also releases a two-in-one iOS app for accessing both personal and business files

Microsoft continues cross-platform tear, releases Outlook for iOS, Android

Renames acquisition Acompli Email as Outlook, shoves them out the door to replace Outlook Web App for Office 365 user

New Chrome extension spots unencrypted tracking

TrackerSSL is aimed at alerting websites of insecure tracking via Twitter

Oracle Service Cloud gets more social

Access to an online customer's browsing history gives a fuller view of their online experience

Microsoft kicks off C# 7 language planning

The design team working on C# are examining data management, performance, and reliability for the next update

Can Microsoft make R easy?

Microsoft and R are poised to enter a mutually beneficial relationship: Microsoft needs R's data science chops, while R needs Microsoft’s ease of use

Amazon’s next targets: Microsoft Exchange and Gmail

Amazon debuts WorkMail, cloud-hosted email for business, but its cloud still draws more attention than its desktop enterprise offerings

Cyberthreat sharing must include strong privacy protections, advocates say

Lawmakers will push for information-sharing legislation, but some groups want them to address past privacy concerns

GitHub doubles bug bounty for security researchers

Hackers and researchers can earn $5,000 to $10,000 for uncovering security vulnerabilities in GitHub apps

Docker grows up — and has the reorg to show for it

Faced with an exploding contributor base and widening real-world usage, Docker is restructuring to stave off growing pains and external criticism

Hadoop gets serious about data governance

Hortonworks launches a comprehensive three-point plan to shore up data governance in Hadoop

Big Windows 10 KB 3035129 patch also fixes Fast ring option

The patch rollup for Windows 10 build 9926 appears to also fix a peripatetic Fast ring inconsistency and adds a new branch option

Flying high, Apple readies Watch to ship in April

The only bleak spot in Apple's earnings was iPad sales, which are being 'cannibalized' by other products, Tim Cook said

FCC calls blocking of personal Wi-Fi hotspots ‘disturbing trend’

The FCC vows that no more Marriott-like Wi-Fi blocking schemes will be tolerated

‘Ghost’ vulnerability poses high risk to Linux distributions

Flaw in the GNU C Library can be exploited remotely for full control and should be patched as soon as possible, according to Qualys

New SAP Hana tool aims to put big data insights within closer reach

Featuring Hadoop support, the rapid-deployment service targets enterprise users with streaming and unstructured data

Google Fiber expanding to Atlanta, Charlotte, Nashville, and Raleigh-Durham

The company is still exploring five other areas for future optic cable rollouts

New Aurelia framework wants in on JavaScript riches

In its debut, the Aurelia modular framework enables customization and accommodates the latest ECMAScript technologies

Enterprises can now use Dell’s Kace appliance to manage Chromebooks

The Kace K1000 enterprise asset management software can also keep tabs on many other types of devices

Critical Java updates fix 19 vulnerabilities, disable SSL 3.0

Future Java 7 security patches will not be publicly available so users should migrate to Java 8

FTC calls on IoT vendors to protect privacy

The agency recommends a set of best practices, but critics fear the FTC will enforce them as regulations

Should you use Windows 10 or Ubuntu?

In today's open source roundup: Ubuntu versus Windows 10. Plus: Dell updates Developer Edition Linux laptops, and KDE Plasma 5.2 released and reviewed

Microsoft expands Power BI’s data analysis reach

New connectivity features and pricing expand Power BI's appeal beyond Office users — and complicate its relationship with Salesforce

Enterprises: Get ready to pay to go slow on Windows 10

Details remain murky, but Microsoft's biggest customers will have to pay for a traditional update cadence, say analysts

Developers begin work on LibreOffice for Android

Dropbox buys Pixelapse to add version control for visual designers

GitHub-like version control startup Pixelapse adds another arrow to Dropbox's competitive quiver.

Apple readies another crack at ending Yosemite’s Wi-Fi ills

Quickening tempo of 10.10.2 beta releases hints at impending final release