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hacks discovered four recent KB updates for Windows 7 and 8, all designed to send Microsoft regular reports on your machine’s activities. KB3068708 – “This update introduces the Diagnostics and Telemetry tracking service to existing devices. By applying this service, you can add benefits from the latest version of Windows to systems that have not yet upgraded. The update also supports applications that are subscribed to Visual Studio Application Insights.” This update replaced KB3022345. KB3075249 – “This update adds telemetry points to the User Account Control (UAC) feature to collect information on elevations that come from low integrity levels.” KB3080149 – “This package updates the Diagnostics and Telemetry tracking service to existing devices. This service provides benefits from the latest version of Windows to systems that have not yet upgraded. The update also supports applications that are subscribed to Visual Studio Application Insights.”

The Internet search giant plans to hold an event on September 29 in San Francisco to unveil two version of its flagship smartphones, according to people familiar with the company's plans. One smartphone will be a smaller version of a Nexus phone made by LG, while the second will be a larger version built by Huawei.

There are few surprises among the top iOS apps of all time

The affair has captivated the tech community, both because it is not known what steps the executives took to seek the manuscript and because the author, Dan Lyons, is a well-known journalist and writer for the HBO series “Silicon Valley.” Lyons worked in HubSpot’s marketing department for less than two years. His memoir, “Disrupted: My Misadventure in the Start-Up Bubble,” is due in stores Feb. 2. HubSpot’s board of directors hired an outside law firm, Goodwin Procter, to investigate the incident. HubSpot said the firm’s report was turned over to “the appropriate legal authorities,” but the company has declined to say what it found or which agencies were notified.

Plaintiff Jon Daniel, the operator of the @peoriamayor handle, was initially accused last year of impersonating a public official in violation of Illinois law. However, the 30-year-old was never charged. His arrest was kicked off after the local mayor, Jim Ardis, was concerned that the tweets in that account falsely portrayed him as a drug abuser who associates with prostitutes. One tweet Ardis was concerned about said, "Who stole my crackpipe?"

Microsoft is using a new tactic to keep Windows 10 users from switching away from its Edge browser. The first time Edge users search for “chrome” or “firefox” using Bing — presumably with the intent of downloading those browsers from Google or Mozilla, respectively — they are shown a serious-looking message at the top of the search results.

hacker who played a key role in developing a computer virus that stole millions of dollars from victims and even managed to infiltrate some NASA computers agreed to a plea deal today in New York federal court. Deniss Calovskis, a Latvian national, pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit computer intrusion, prosecutors said. He'll be sentenced on Dec. 14 and faces a maximum 10 years in prison and a fine potentially as high as $250,000, according to a copy of the signed plea agreement.

Dragos Ruiu, organizer of both Pwn2Own and the PacSec West security conference in Japan, said HP lawyers spent more than $1 million researching the recent changes to the so-called Wassenaar Arrangement. He said they ultimately concluded that the legal uncertainty and compliance hurdles were too high for them to move forward.

But it’s also a business that Apple already dominates, according to Adobe, despite weakening Apple TV sales. That’s because Apple TV is not the only Apple device used to consume authenticated video. It’s not even the most popular.

Mobile is not a subset of the internet anymore, that you use only if you're waiting for a coffee or don't have a PC in front of you - it's becoming the main way that people use the internet. It's not mobile that's limited to a certain set of locations and use cases - it's the PC, that can only do the web (and yes, legacy desktop apps, if you care, and consumers don't) and only be used sitting down. It's time to invert that mental model - there is not the 'mobile internet' and the internet. Rather, if anything, it's the internet and the 'desktop internet'

We loved the old logo, and we loved what Google was. Whatever it’s up to, whatever its intentions, Google should want to keep our love. So in the name of love, Google, give us back our serifs. Let this sans-serif building-block refrigerator-magnet silliness be the New Coke to your Coke, the Qwikster to your Netflix, the Freedom Tower to your One World Trade. Go back to your beautiful old serifs, and we’ll be that much likelier to let your self-driving cars drive us around.

Remember when Facebook spun off Messenger and forced you to download it separately? Turns out, even though users initially hated it, the company knew what it was doing. A new report from digital media analytics company comScore shows that Facebook Messenger is currently the second most popular app in America.

But the theft and disclosure of more than 30 million accounts from Ashley Madison, a site that advertises itself as a place for married people to discreetly set up extramarital affairs, is different. After the hacking, many victims have been plunged into the depths of despair. In addition to those contemplating suicide, dozens have told Mr. Hunt that they feared losing their jobs and families, and they expected to be humiliated among friends and co-workers.

A recent snapshot of e-book prices found that titles in the Kindle bookstore from the five biggest publishers cost, on average, $10.81, while all other 2015 e-books on the site had an average price of $4.95, according to industry researcher Codex Group LLC.

That puts the app on par with Facebook, which reported 4 billion daily video views in April, and means that Snapchat has doubled its daily views in just three months.

Now Google has stepped in, offering €1 million ($1.1 million) to the organizations providing help to refugees. In addition to this, Google.org (the branch of the company "using innovation to tackle some of the world’s biggest challenges") is setting up a page to make it easier for people to make donations, and says that it will match any money donated by Google users.

“I can take echoes of a fake car and put them at any location I want,” says Jonathan Petit, Principal Scientist at Security Innovation, a software security company. “And I can do the same with a pedestrian or a wall.” Using such a system, attackers could trick a self-driving car into thinking something is directly ahead of it, thus forcing it to slow down. Or they could overwhelm it with so many spurious signals that the car would not move at all for fear of hitting phantom obstacles.

RT @Techmeme: Google, Twitter are working together on an open source version of "instant articles" on mobile

RT @Techmeme: Google, Twitter are working together on an open source version of "instant articles" on mobile

RT @Techmeme: Apple's 'Hey Siri' Feature in iOS 9 Uses Individualized Voice Recognition (@earthtomitchel)

RT @Techmeme: Apple's 'Hey Siri' Feature in iOS 9 Uses Individualized Voice Recognition (@earthtomitchel)

RT @Techmeme: California governor vetoes bill banning drones over private property (@nisummers / Engadget)

RT @Techmeme: California governor vetoes bill banning drones over private property (@nisummers / Engadget)

RT @Techmeme: NY-based health insurer Excellus BCBS hacked in 2013, exposing information of over 10M people

RT @Techmeme: NY-based health insurer Excellus BCBS hacked in 2013, exposing information of over 10M people

"Washington state will not tolerate crowdfunding theft," said Washington's attorney general Bob Ferguson in a press release issued July 27. "If you accept money from consumers, and don’t follow through on your obligations, my office will hold you accountable."

McMaster revealed that Cyanogen is working with Microsoft to deeply integrate Cortana into the next version of Cyanogen OS. This is key to catapulting Cyanogen into the mass market, he asserts: Cortana is currently available as an app on Android, but in order for it to make a real difference, it needs to be able to be integrated at the OS level so that its full potential can be leveraged.

The Times and the Guardian were some of the first publishers to join Facebook’s instant articles program last spring. The Google/Twitter plan is seen as response to Facebook’s push, as well as other proprietary publishing programs launched by the likes of Snapchat and Apple.

Now Facebook is giving people a tool to leverage this tiny billboard. With its new Temporary Profile Picture feature that’s slated for a broader rollout, you can change your pic but have it revert to your old one after a set number of hours, days or weeks.

RT @Techmeme: Qualcomm unveils Snapdragon Flight, a board optimized for drones based on Snapdragon 801