user

A new bug in Microsoft's Skype video chat program reportedly causes instant messages to be sent to the wrong contact. It's a potentially harmful issue that could leave some of Skype's many users embarrassed, frustrated, and angry. The problem was ... initially reported late last week through Skype's user forum. According to reports, the bug affects Mac, Windows, Linux, and Windows Phone versions of Skype. Skype quickly admitted that instant messages can be sent to the wrong personal contact when the program suffers a crash in the middle of an instant messaging session. Last Instant Message Sent ... (view more)

Facebook may begin snooping on smartphone users in order to target them with more relevant advertisements. The strategy could prove a huge money-maker, but may be a step too far for some of the social network's users. The massive social network ... currently makes most of its revenue from advertising. However, it has struggled to cash in when people visit the site using a smartphone. In recent financial filings, Facebook admitted this could become a serious handicap as more and more people choose to access the social media site from their phones instead of their computers. Facebook had already ... (view more)

A security firm has discovered a Trojan horse posing as a smartphone application on both Apple's App Store and Google Play. Both Google and Apple have already removed the app, so it is no longer available for download. The app, called "Find and ... Call," masked as a smartphone organization tool. In reality, however, it was a virus that, after being installed, spread to other devices by means of the device user's contact list. Contact List Uploaded to Remote Server The true nature of "Find and Call" was originally discovered by Kaspersky Lab, a prominent security firm. According to ... (view more)

People whose computers are infected with the ' DNS Changer ' virus will lose access to the Internet on Monday, July 9, 2012, unless they take steps to remedy the situation. Right now the Federal Bureau of Investigation is wrapping up an operation ... designed to help such victims maintain their online connections. DNS Changer is named after the domain name system that helps translate website addresses (such as www.infopackets.com ) into a string of numbers known as an IP address, which is the way computers actually identify the machine where a particular website is physically stored. 'DNS Changer ... (view more)

According to a new report, Microsoft and Yahoo have been handing over the names, zip codes, and other personal information of their clients to both major U.S. political parties. Worse yet, those targeted have no idea that they are the victims of a ... political ploy. Seeing targeted advertisements is nothing new to those who frequent the Internet. In the milliseconds that it takes for a page to load, advertisers can identify a user visiting a site and display ads based on what they know about a user. For example, someone checking the Euro Cup scores on the ESPN website might see an advertisement ... (view more)

Software used by Iranian citizens to access the uncensored Internet anonymously has now been revealed to carry malware. Even worse, it carries a variant of malicious software that tracks everything any user types into an infected computer. The ... dangerous software is named Simurgh, after a mythical creature in Iranian folklore. The software is thought to help Internet users combat harsh government controls and shield users from being located and identified. Software Hides Identity of User From Watchers The software is mostly used by Iranians to hide their identity. Users believe it creates ... (view more)

Google has added to its search results a new feature designed to make the search function act "more human". The feature, called "Knowledge Graph", may make the site behave more like rival Microsoft's Bing. The main aim of Knowledge Graph is to deal ... with the shortcomings of using typical search terms, which frequently denote a range of very different meanings. Google gives the example of a search for 'Taj Mahal.' Someone using this term could be looking for the Indian landmark, a musician, a casino, or a restaurant specializing in Indian food. There's no way to know. At the moment, this search ... (view more)

Microsoft's most recent security update includes fixes for a total of 22 flaws affecting the Windows operating system (OS), the Microsoft Office program suite, and the .Net Framework. The 22 fixes are spread across seven security bulletins, three of ... which Microsoft has ranked 'critical,' the company's highest security rating. Another four have been rated 'important,' which is one step down from 'critical.' Remote Code Execution Flaws Rampant All but two of the security bulletins address issues related to remote code execution vulnerabilities. Problems like these can put a computer system at ... (view more)

Facebook has announced it will step up the amount of advertising displayed to users. It plans to include ads within news feeds and, for the first time, on mobile devices. Advertising makes up the vast majority of Facebook's revenue, the remainder ... coming from revenue associated with applications, like Farmville. However, to date Facebook has not followed the traditional model of offering advertisers a variety of different ad sizes and spaces at different prices. Instead, it has concentrated on its ability to target ads at users who meet a specific description set by the advertiser. That's ... (view more)

It's been a week since we had our vote and my email inbox is buzzing with questions and suggestions from our readers. The question below is the most frequently asked question from last week's vote, and it deserves an entire article on its own. ... Please read it carefully. Note: the article below is lengthy (about 1500 words). Most people reading this article will find it highly informative and interesting as it applies to technology, search engines, advertising, profits, and even addresses how and why Google ranks its search results. It also explains why we are asking for contributions to our ... (view more)