John Lister

Microsoft looks to be working on an interactive television product, likely in the form of a set-top box. That would put it in direct competition with rivals Apple and Google. Speculation about the move has been spurred by the fact that a Microsoft ... executive's company bio has been revised. Tom Gibbons, who'd previously worked in Microsoft's general hardware and mobile devices divisions, is now listed as the company's "corporate vice president of TV & Service Business". Given his background, it does seem logical that he'd be working on physical devices in the new role. According ... (view more)

A recent nation-wide survey investigating sleeping habits has linked the use of technology with insufficient sleep. But the findings may not be that clear-cut. The details come from the National Sleep Foundation, a non-profit group aiming to tackle ... sleep-related health issues and thus cut the number of tiredness-related problems. It surveyed 1,500 people aged 13 to 64. The two most prominent figures are that 43 per cent of those questioned say they rarely, if ever, get a decent night's sleep on weeknights, and that 95 per cent of people use electronic devices in the hour before bedtime. ... (view more)

Microsoft has announced that Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) supports two separate technologies for restricting access to information related to a user's online activity. One of the privacy features was recently prompted by the Federal Trade Commission ... (FTC). Both technologies involve the way websites share data with third-parties. The most prominent example is with advertisements that appear on a page; for example, rather than simply linking ads to the page content (such as a newspaper site running golf equipment ads alongside a golf match report), a site might pass on details of all the pages a ... (view more)

Hackers are actively exploiting a bug that involves both Windows and Internet Explorer. Google believes the hackers may be targeting specific users. The bug involves MHTML, which is a special format designed to combine all the different files of a ... web page, such as the coding for the text and layout, the image files and video files, into a single file. It was originally developed as a way for a user to save an entire webpage to their desktop without winding up with a messy collection of files, but can also be used as a web link. The vulnerability involves the way that Internet Explorer and ... (view more)

More than two million people have downloaded Internet Explorer 9 in the first day of its public availability. Microsoft has welcomed the "enthusiastic reception", though Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) hasn't been received with quite as much fanfare as ... some previous web browsers. To put things into context, the 2.35 million downloads -- equivalent to 27 downloads per second -- is double that of the first day for the beta edition of IE9 and four times that of the IE9 release candidate (RC). Internet Explorer 9 Download Not Record Breaking The numbers are on par, as a finished browser is ... (view more)

AT&T is imposing a maximum monthly download limit for its broadband customers. It's a move more reminiscent of smartphone data plans, where bandwidth is more restricted. Under the new policy, which begins in May, DSL users will be allowed to ... download up to 150GB of data per month, a cap that's raised to 250GB for those on the U-Verse service which delivers fiber optic cable right to the customer's home. The company estimates that around 2 per cent of customers will be affected by the limit. (Source: dslreports.com ) $10 for 50GB Overage Fee to Apply Those who exceed the limits won't face ... (view more)

Microsoft has launched a special feature in its Bing search engine intended to help users find bargains. To much surprise of many users, however, the mobile edition isn't available on Windows-based phones. Bing Deals to Partnership with Groupon The ... service, dubbed 'Bing Deals', doesn't bring any original offers, meaning it's not like Groupon or Living Social. Indeed, Microsoft says it's made a deliberate decision not to compete against such sites and instead plans to work in partnership with them. (Source: pcmag.com ) It's likely a smart decision. Services such as Groupon work by arranging ... (view more)

Microsoft has announced that Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) will be released on Monday, March 14, 2011. However, both the date and the chosen venue for the official launch are a little surprising. The final version of the new browser will be available to ... download from 9PM PST (Pacific Standard Time) March 14th. To mark the occasion, Microsoft is holding an official launch part in Austin, Texas as part of the SXSWi (South by Southwest Interactive) Festival. (Source: windowsteamblog.com ) The setting is a surprising choice. For one, the festival is a tech-based spinoff from a better-known ... (view more)

For the third year in a row, Google's Chrome web browser has put in an impressive performance at the Pwn2Own hacking challenge. Indeed, after two days nobody had even attempted to breach the browser's security, despite an increased reward of $5,000. ... The contest involves hackers attempting to exploit security loopholes on the four major web browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer and Safari) to win a $15,000 prize, along with the computer used for the challenge -- hence the contest name. Contestants are allowed to give judges a website address to visit, simulating the process of a web ... (view more)