T-Mobile introduces Tourist Plan for visitors to the US

Before traveling to a different country you should think about how much it will cost to use your smartphone there. Chances are you will be sharing photos with your friends, checking out places to visit, getting directions, talking to the family, and so on -- and those things are typically not included or covered entirely in your plan. So, what can you do? Roaming is the comfortable option, but it can be a very expensive affair. Ideally, you would find an affordable local plan that gives you enough minutes and data traffic, and swap out your SIM as soon as you… [Continue Reading]

Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Microsoft will fight online hate speech in Europe

Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Microsoft are working in conjunction with the European Commission to try to tackle the problem of illegal online hate speech. This is something that the companies have taken steps to fight individually, but now there is a concerted effort to combat hate speech and terrorist propaganda in Europe. New EU regulations require the companies to review notifications they receive about hate speech within 24 hours. The four tech giants have agreed to the new code of conduct, saying the 'majority' of reported content will be examined within a day. Twitter and Facebook have had numerous well-publicized… [Continue Reading]

Security vulnerabilities in top UK companies exposed

Cyber security affects all of us, but it only makes the headlines when it's big companies that are the target of attacks. Threat intelligence provider Anomali has produced a new study focusing on vulnerabilities in businesses on the UK's FTSE 100 list of the largest companies. Among the findings are that over the last three months, 81 companies in the FTSE 100 had potentially malicious domain registrations against them, enabling cyber criminals to create dummy websites that can be used to trick users into supplying private data. The report also discovered that 5,275 employee email and clear text password combinations… [Continue Reading]

Manage virtual CD, DVD, HD-DVD or BD drives with ImgDrive

ImgDrive is a free tool which can mount multiple disc images as virtual CD, DVD, HD-DVD or BD drives. The program works with iso, ccd, cue, isz, mds and nrg images. Everything is controlled from the program’s system tray icon. This opens with a single drive letter, and you’re able to mount a new image, then access it in Explorer just like any other disc. If the single drive letter isn’t enough, another system tray menu option reserves up to 7. By default your mounted images don’t persist across sessions, but turn on the Automount option and they’ll be reloaded… [Continue Reading]

Outlook.com users currently experiencing excessive spam, but don't worry -- there's a good reason for it

If you’re an Outlook.com user you may have noticed a lot more spam arriving in your inbox over the past day or so. BetaNews writers have reported suddenly receiving a lot more junk messages in their Outlook.com accounts, and we’re not alone -- it’s a problem affecting users globally. But don’t panic, it’s nothing to do with the mega-breach affecting Tumblr and MySpace users, but rather something far more innocuous. It turns out the reason for the influx of spam is actually down to Microsoft taking steps to reduce the amount of spam you receive. No, seriously. It isn’t a… [Continue Reading]

Microsoft sneaks even more ads into Windows 10 via the Ink Workspace

With online ad blocking becoming ever more popular, companies have to find new ways to push their products at people. With Windows 10 -- which is being aggressively pushed onto people -- Microsoft has found the perfect vehicle. We've already seen ads in the Start menu and ads on the Lock Screen, but it doesn't end there. Windows Insiders are also treated to ads in one of the new features available in the preview builds -- the Windows Ink Workspace. It seems that Microsoft's aggressive tactics are not limited to forcing Windows 10 onto people. In taking over portions of… [Continue Reading]

New Microsoft Ventures to invest in promising startups

Microsoft has today announced a new department designed to invest into disruptive start-ups in their early phases. The department, led by Nagraj Kashyap (corporate vice president) and executive vice president of business development Peggy Johnson, holds the name Microsoft Ventures. This is not to be confused with the "old" Microsoft Ventures. That arm, now called Microsoft Accelerator, helps start-ups with technology and expertise, but rarely cash. Microsoft Ventures will look for early-days start-ups in cloud, security and machine-learning markets, those that can complement their Azure cloud services, among other things. Basically, Ventures will sit somewhere between the Accelerator, and larger… [Continue Reading]