Articles by John P. Mello Jr

Everyone has a story to tell, and Instagram on Tuesday announced Stories, a new way for users to tell theirs Stories allows Instagram users to string together images and videos for a dynamic slide show presentation that can be shared with friends or the entire Instagram community....

"Patch your systems in a timely manner" is a mantra of security experts, but what happens when the patch well runs dry because a product's maker no longer supports it? That is a situation many large enterprises find themselves in, and it's one that poses security risks Between 30 percent and 50 percent of the hardware and software assets in the ave...

With an eye on its future, Uber last week announced it was increasing its investment in mapping "The ongoing need for maps tailored to the Uber experience is why we're doubling down on our investment in mapping," said Brian McClendon, Uber's vice president of advanced technologies and former vice president of Google Maps....

Sales of the iPhone for the current quarter may be down, but sales for the decade are up, way up Apple last week announced that it had sold its billionth iPhone, a historic feat for a consumer electronics product from a single vendor....

Ransomware has become a scourge on the Internet -- but two information security companies, along with a pair of law enforcement agencies, this week launched an initiative to do something about it No More Ransom is the centerpiece of a collaborative effort involving Kapersky Lab, Intel Security, the Dutch National Police and Europol. The new porta...

BlackBerry on Tuesday made a play for security-conscious Android users with the announcement of its new DTEK50 Running Android 6.0 Marshmallow and BlackBerry security software, the new unit is the "most secure Android smartphone" in the world, the company claimed....

Polish authorities last week arrested the alleged owner of pirate website KickassTorrents, or KAT, 30-year-old Artem Vauln of Kharkiv, Ukraine Vaulin faces charges in the United States of conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement, criminal copyright infringement and conspiracy to commit money laundering....

Fleeting memories will be a thing of the past with a new Snapchat feature currently rolling out "Memories," introduced earlier this month, allows users of the app to save photos and photo stories to their phones, as well as share them with friends....

Ransomware infections are on the rise, and healthcare organizations are ripe targets, which may be why the federal government addressed the subject last week Ransomware attacks have risen from about 1,000 a day last year to 4,000 a day this year, Symantec has reported....

Twitter on Tuesday announced it has opened up the application process for verified account status, which previously was reserved for celebrities and other high-profile users. Any user may now file an online application to have an account verified. Twitter account verification, denoted by a blue badge icon, flags individuals and organizations as au...

Pokemon Go, the augmented reality game that has become an overnight sensation, experienced sluggish performance over the weekend, possibly from a hacker attack on its login servers Shortly after Pokemon Go devs tweeted that the game was rolling out to 26 additional countries, this tweet appeared:...

A patent for an infrared system that could be used to shut off iPhone cameras and microphones at live performances is one of dozens awarded to Apple last month The company first applied for a patent for the infrared camera system in 2011, according to Patently Apple, which noted the technology's great potential....

Nest on Wednesday introduced an outdoor surveillance camera to complement its indoor Nest Cam The Nest Cam Outdoor will go on sale this fall for US$199. It is easy to mount on any outdoor surface, according to the company, and even has a magnetic base for attaching to gutters....

Polaroid Swing, a new iOS app for creating animated photos, on Tuesday debuted at the App Store. The app has ties both to instant photography pioneer Polaroid and Twitter founder Biz Stone Polaroid Swing lets a "phonetog" capture 1-second videos posing as images that become animated when a phone is tilted, or when they're swiped or tapped.

The U.S. government's campaign to counter the Islamic State's social media presence is bearing fruit, the Associated Press reported Saturday. More anti-ISIS content than pro-ISIS content is appearing on the Net by a ratio of six to one Twitter traffic for accounts affiliated with the Islamic State is down by 45 percent compared to two years ago, ac...

The number of mobile ransomware victims across the globe has increased fourfold compared to a year ago, suggests a Kaspersky Lab report released last week Kaspersky software protected 136,532 users targeted by ransomware from April 2015 to March 2016 -- up from 35,413 in the year-ago period, the company said....

Although an FBI investigation concluded that Hillary Clinton's use of a separate email system during her tenure as Secretary of State may have violated federal law, Director James B. Comey on Tuesday recommended against pursuing any criminal prosecution "Although there is evidence of potential violations of the statutes regarding the handling of cl...

Devialet, the French company that has built a reputation in the audio market for high-end wireless speakers, on Tuesday announced its newest addition: the US$3,000 Phantom Gold The Phantom Gold looks something like a futuristic Faberge egg, and it's priced like one, too....

Twitter fans who want to dress up pix they post to the service can do it with #Stickers, a new feature announced Monday. "Soon, you can browse our rotating sets of stickers to join in on real-time conversations, and select from the library of hundreds of accessories, emoji, and props to make your photos more fun," said Sasank Reddy, a senior produ...

Since mobile computing put an end to the good old days when IT departments had absolute control over software deployed in the enterprise, there's been a rise in employees' use of third-party applications -- a rise that poses security risks to corporate environments That is one of the findings in a report CloudLock released last week....