report

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has warned that the boom in Internet-connected home gadgets could increase security risks significantly. It's put together consumer advice and says it will work on applying the law to this new area of tech. The FTC ... has published a report on the " Internet of Things ". That's something of a vague term, but the commission defines it as any physical object that can connect to the Internet. Today, the Internet of Things doesn't simply apply to computer and smart phones -- it also applies to billions of other objects, including cameras, home ... (view more)

A new report suggests that Americans pay more for their Internet plans than residents of most other industrialized nations. Not only that, but Americans also pay more for slower service. The report was produced by the New America Foundation's Open ... Technology Institute, which compared Internet service in major US cities -- like Kansas City, Missouri, and Bristol, Virginia -- with large European and Asian metropolises, including London, Seoul, Paris, Tokyo, and Copenhagen. Internet Cost Comparisons of USA, Europe and Asia The report found that the estimated monthly cost for a plan featuring ... (view more)

A new report suggests that the personal computer may be on the verge of making a comeback. The report comes from industry analysts Gartner and IDC, which state that there was only a slight drop in demand for personal computers during the third ... quarter of 2014. While those figures don't sound too impressive, the outcome is quite startling when considering the trend over the last three years. Since 2011, PC sales have been steadily declining. Some experts went so far as to suggest that we were witnessing the 'death of the PC' , with consumers opting for mobile devices -- like ... (view more)

A new report from a government auditor suggests that the United States Healthcare.gov web site is missing basic security features. The most alarming findings include ineffective cyber security controls, such as resilient passwords and stable ... security patching. Healthcare.gov represents the central hub of the Obama administration's Affordable Care Act, which is intended to offer U.S. citizens an easier method of finding and acquiring health insurance. However, since the site's launch in October 2013 it has suffered from stability problems, with issues lingering well into 2014. ... (view more)

A new report reveals the states with the fastest and slowest Internet speeds -- and the results are quite surprising. According to information technology and communications firm Broadview Networks, the fastest Internet service in the United States ... can be found in Virginia, which boasts an average speed of 13.7 megabits per second (Mbps), or approximately 1625 kilobytes per second. In fact, the eastern seaboard is home to many states with fast Internet: Delaware and Massachusetts tied for second (13.1 Mbps), followed by Rhode Island (12.9 Mbps) and Washington, DC (12.8 Mbps). Of course, there ... (view more)

A new report suggests that most USB flash drives (also known as thumb drives) have a critical security weakness that allows them to be reconfigured, giving hackers an opportunity to silently infect targeted computer systems with malware . The report ... comes from Germany's Security Research Labs, which says that most companies making USB flash drives fail to protect the firmware installed on their devices. That means attackers could easily hack and replace the firmware with a malicious version of the firmware, which is then capable of delivering a payload onto a victim's PC - usually with ... (view more)