John Lister

BlackBerry Messenger is now available on Android and iOS phones. So far it's getting some tremendous reviews -- but there's something fishy about a lot of those write-ups. It's led some experts to suggest that someone has devised a campaign to flood ... technology websites with bogus reviews. At the moment it remains unclear who's behind the scam -- or if BlackBerry itself is involved. The BlackBerry Messenger service, also known as BBM, was previously only available on BlackBerry handsets. It's a variation on text messaging that has become very popular because there's no charge to send a message ... (view more)

A federal appeals court has ruled that law enforcement authorities in the United States must get a warrant before hiding a global positioning system (GPS) tracker on a suspect's car. The ruling clarifies an issue left unanswered by a previous ... Supreme Court verdict. The legal confusion followed a high-profile case involving a suspected drug dealer who was tried and convicted after police tracked his movements using a GPS device attached to his Jeep. The man took the case to the Supreme Court, which overturned his conviction because it found that much of the evidence was inadmissible. The ... (view more)

In a hugely controversial move, Facebook says users can once again post extremely violent videos -- including those of people being beheaded. It's a reversal of a five-month ban on such material. The social media site began blocking members from ... posting extremely violent video clips back in May, but has now changed its policies. It didn't make a major announcement of the reversal, but has confirmed the change after a user posted a video of a murder in Mexico. That clip remained online under revised rules that limit the circumstances in which violent videos can be shown. Violent Video Viewing ... (view more)

Google says it will continue offering security fixes for people running the Chrome browser on Windows XP until April 2015. That's a year after Microsoft's termination date for the aging operating system (OS). For its part, Microsoft has warned users ... not to rely on the Chrome protection and says that even with Google's efforts, users of Windows XP will still face a serious risk of malicious software infection. After launching Windows XP in 2001, Microsoft stopped selling the operating system in 2008. The firm no longer offers Windows XP users technical support, but it has continued to offer ... (view more)

Windows 8.1 is the first set of revisions for Microsoft's Windows 8 operating system. It's available as of this morning -- Friday, October 18, 2013. So, what do you need to know about this significant new update? Here, we'll answer some of the ... questions we've received from our readers in recent weeks. Question: Is Windows 8.1 the same as a service pack? Answer: No. A service pack is a single download that contains all updates, bug fixes, and security patches to date in one package. Normally it's at least a year before Microsoft releases a service pack for a new edition of Windows. Question: ... (view more)

Up to ten different router models, including some by popular manufacturer D-Link, are now vulnerable to hackers. It appears the code that runs the devices contains a master password that anyone could find and use. The problem was discovered by ... security researcher Craig Heffner, who admitted he had nothing more exciting to do on a Saturday than nose through code accompanying a recent firmware update for his D-Link DIR-100 router. Like most routers, the settings menu for the D-100 router is accessible through a web browser -- the idea being that the user can access the router through one of ... (view more)

An ebook firm has suspended sales of all self-published books in the United Kingdom, regardless of their content. It follows a media scandal over titles involving explicit material. The scandal began when a national newspaper ran a front-page story ... accusing a major retail chain, WH Smith, of carrying particularly illicit material. The headline of the story turned out to be something of an exaggeration. The material wasn't being sold in stores, but was available online. It also turned out to involve the content of books rather than images or movies. eBooks Unappetizing But Not Illegal The ... (view more)

Norwegian firm Elliptic Labs is employing ultrasound technology to improve existing gesture controls. As with medical ultrasound scans, the gadget sends out soundwaves at frequencies humans cannot hear. The device then measures how long these ... soundwaves -- which are affected by the position and distance of any objects in the way -- take to return. This allows it to track any movements, such as somebody gesturing with a wave or a swipe of the hand. Sound Allows Easier Control Than Light Samsung uses a similar gesture control system with its Galaxy S4 smartphone, but that works through infrared ... (view more)

For some people $129 may be a lot of money for a smoke alarm. But the new 'Nest Protect' is packed with technologies not usually included with your average smoke alarm. The device is the work of Nest Labs, a company that made its name a couple of ... years ago with an automatically adjusting thermostat capable of cutting energy bills by up to 20 per cent. The company's new smoke alarm features built-in WiFi. It automatically sends messages to your mobile phone when the batteries are beginning to run low and will also send an alert if it detects a fire -- meaning that if you are away from home you ... (view more)

Disney has developed a way to use a sheet of paper as a power source, thereby eliminating the need for batteries. The concept is being tested and, if those tests prove successful, the idea could be used to make Disney children's books. But it could ... also prove useful for a range of gadgets. The system uses electret, a material that permanently holds an electrical charge. It works with static electricity, but can be compared to a magnet. Teflon, more commonly associated with non-stick cookware, is an electret material. If you rub Teflon against paper, it creates an opposing electrical charge in ... (view more)